Emerson's Fall: A New Interpretation of the Major Essays

by Barbara L. Packer

Provides background information about the biographical, rhetorical, cultural, and intellectual foundations of the essays and discusses Emerson's beliefs about the world's imperfections

Genres: Criticism, Philosophy

244 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1982

Reviews

[Christopher Porzenheim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Packer's thesis is that Emerson presented a few different accounts about "the fall" of men in order to replace more normcore Christian accounts of the fall viva la Eve. In other words, Emerson offers competing origin stories for why things are bad and people are bad in order to replace Biblical accounts. Packer traces these different stories of our "fall" and the reasons Emerson offers for them.

I am not persuaded by Packer's thesis, it feels like they forced Emerson into a theoretical structure.

This is the most common mistake bad Emerson scholarship tends to make. Typically, its some thesis that Emerson fits into x or y category the author invented or heard of, and little to no responding to potential counterarguments on the problems with the proposed category. That's sloppy intellectually. Anyone can argue Emerson fits into any make believe theory using such poor argumentative moves.