Introduction
At the core of individualist anarchism, ideology is the belief that “individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public authority.” Such thought pattern compounded with the love of nature, the quest for simple living, solitude, and freedom of expression comprise is reflected in the writings of two of America’s most prolific and distinguished writers – Henry David Thoreau and Richard Brautigan.
Main body
Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. His naturalist and philosophical writings on ecology and environmental history served as the cornerstone to modern-day environmentalism. Author, naturalist, abolitionist, philosopher, tax resister, development critic, and sage writer are just some of the many accolades/titles associated with his name. Thoreau’s works inspired many modern influential figures – among them Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. He sought and advocated a balance between civilization and a pastoral realm that integrated both nature and culture. A native of Tacoma, Washington – Richard Brautigan (January 30, 1935) was one of many writers to arise out of the “beat”/counterculture which commenced in the 1960s and early 70’and is synonymous with the hippie faction. The movement was a counter-response to the social and political conservative mores of the 1950s. The literature of Brautigan and his contemporaries such as Jack Kerouac, Chandler Brossard, Kenneth Rexroth, Allen Ginsberg, to name a few, implemented rhythms of straight-forward American speech with a touch bop and progressive jazz. Other influences include parody, satire, black comedy, and Zen Buddhism.
Walden and Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and Trout Fishing in America by Brautigan is considered their greatest literary masterpieces. Published in 1854, Walden
is heralded as one of the most renowned non-fiction books written by an American novelist. Walden details Thoreau’s sojourn in a cabin in the vicinity of Walden Pound which was adjacent to property owned by his mentor and friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It accentuates the significance of self-reliance, contemplation, solitude, and proximity to nature as opposed to the frantic existence which Thoreau impeded human existence. Vaguely autobiographical, it critiques Western culture’s consumerist and materialistic mores. Civil Disobedience (1849) is an essay that emphasizes that individual rights/authority supersedes governmental jurisdiction. Its thematic impetus stems from Thoreau’s abhorrence to slavery and the Mexican-American War. A camping trip Brautigan went on with his wife and daughter in 1961 inspired Trout Fishing in America. It is abstract without a clear central theme.
Time about the human experience is of paramount importance in these works. Thoreau is quoted as saying “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” In Walden, Thoreau compresses his 2 ½ year sojourn on Walden Pond into one calendar year. The passage of four seasons in the 2 ½ year time frame metaphorically represents the process of human development. Although Brautigan’s sense of time is vague and limitless, he uses the paradigm of trout fishing to satirically critique American mainstream society and culture about human development. Water/Rivers/streams symbolically represent sensitivity and sensibility. Thoreau and Brautigan purport an iconoclastic vision. Either case, their works are partial memoirs that reflect a spiritual sojourn that details and advocates natural simplicity, sensitivity, harmony, and beauty as paradigms for just social and cultural conditions.
Bibliography
- “Biography of Henry David Thoreau”. American Poems (2000-2007 Gunnar Bengtsson).
- Johnson, Ellwood. The Goodly Word: The Puritan Influence in America Literature, Clements Publishing, 2005, p. 138.
- John F. Barber, Curator. “Memoirs”. Brautigan Bibliography and Archive.