Emerson and the Art of the Diary [Hardcover]

This first extended literary description and analysis of Emerson's journals, argues that they, and not his essays, are Emerson's masterpiece, constituting one of the greatest commentaries on nineteenth-century America by one of our most acute formal intelligences. First developing the critical methodology needed to examine the journal form, a genre long neglected by literary scholars, Rosenwald goes on to consider how Emerson the diarist found his form and what form he found. Included are comparisons between the journals and Emerson's lectures and essays, other Transcendentalist journals, the German aphorism-book, and books of quotation by Montaigne and Eckermann. Finally, the author gives an account of how, in his old age, Emerson lost his mastery of the form.

An indispensable book for any student of nineteenth century prose. I read it with admiration and pleasure. Even confirmed lovers of Emerson'sEssayswill find it hard to resist Mr. Rosenwald's bold claim that Emerson achieves his greatestformalperfection in theJournalsrather than in the published works, and every reader will delight in discovering the new artist Mr. Rosenwald reveals in Emerson, 'the greatest American diarist of the century.' --Barbara Packer,University of California, Los Angeles

Not only elucidates the odd and wonderful diversities and coherences of Emerson's journals, but explores the interrelationships between text and reader that define the act of reading....Rosenwald presents pleasing and teasing insights about matters as particular as Emerson's use of pronouns and 'idiomatic system of indexing.' He suggests surprising ways of thinking about such pragmatic concerns as the kind of book a diarist writes in and the manner of arranging words on the page. And he offers challenging insights into the way Emerson's journals reveal their author's relation to his American movement. --The New York Times Book Review

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