Literature Network » Henry David Thoreau

Comedy, cruelty, and tourism: Thoreau's Cape Cod.(Critical Essay)

Content courtesy of

From: American Scholar
Date: 20040622
Author:Pinsky, Robert

Henry David Thoreau's last book, the posthumously published Cape Cod, is a sardonic, maniacally various work. Thoreau's barbed, twisty, and contrary nature, his defiantly indecorous comedy, his rage at hypocrisy are clear enough in all his writing. But Thoreau's life was short. The young man who sets out to write Walden in 1846 at the age of twenty-nine does not feel the pressure of mortality as did the author of Cape Cod only a few years later. Thoreau, who had tuberculosis, entrusted his sister Sophia and his poet friend William Ellery Channing to edit the manuscript. It was ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Henry David Thoreau

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.