![]() ![]() True, Thoreau could turn a phrase, especially when it came to imagery and metaphor. The world’s low esteem for him could be measured by the low sales figures of his books. The world did not esteem him as highly as he esteemed himself. He was forever nattering on about getting away but remained close to home his entire life. He had an unhealthy mind but went about prescribing medicine to others. He was a narcissist who looked out at the world and saw his own reflection. He’d spurned humanity’s company, preferring “the society of musquashes,” and therefore didn’t know anything about the mass of men and their quiet desperation. ![]() ![]() The indictment compared Thoreau to Montaigne-unfavorably called him a sophist, a hypocrite, a humorless boor. Also: a failure, selfish, self-involved, useless, unimaginative, provincial. Thoreau was conceited, indolent, egotistical. It wasn’t just Thoreau’s writing that deserved a take-down so did the man himself, if in Thoreau’s case one could even distinguish between the two. Thoreau whose literary stock the indictment’s author judged to be grossly overvalued. In a prominent national magazine, there appeared an indictment of the late Henry D. ![]()
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