christopher de la Torre

Earlier this year, I came across a copy of Robert D. Richardson’s Emerson: the mind on fire. Being a fan of Emerson’s work since my early undergraduate days, picking this book off the shelf was easy, even if it did measure in at nearly seven hundred pages. The notes appendix was nearly one hundred pages by itself. I was awed at how much literary scholarship one hundred pages of notes represented.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a man caught in many directions, whose passions prompted numerous volumes of writing on every subject. His thirst for knowledge dictated the flow of much of his life, namely the travels domestically and abroad which afforded him a unique view of the world. He was able to cultivate his own brand of thought. His many years represented countless essays, introductions, and significant events.

Born into a long line of clergymen on his father’s side and religiously pious folk on his mother’s side. Emerson’s lot in life was rather apparent from very young. Both parents were well read. Although they exuded a strong influence on him (both literary and disciplinary), no influence would compare to that of Mary Moody Emerson, the aunt whose intellectual eye on the world would forever encompass Waldo’s existence. From young he seemed destined for greatness. This was only the beginning. Emerson’s story illustrates the solid family presence in early American life, complete with tragedy, strong extended family influence, and parental-based tension. While anyone can argue Emerson to be both an individual and a subject of his time, it’s essential to highlight his many influences beginning with his early years.

Richardson accepted a challenge when he decided to write a fresh biography about one of America’s (and indeed the world’s) most noted literary and philisophical forces. Originally planned strictly as an intellectual biography, Emerson: the mind on fire became something far greater. In the preface Richardson defines the result as “a portrait of the whole man” [1]. Richardson brilliantly fleshes out the seemingly mundane events of Emerson’s life to expose the multi-dimensional man behind American Transcendentalism. According to Richardson, Emerson “was not interested in biography for its own sake” and “took for granted the…concept of biography as educative…[seeing] biography to be a medium, like language” [1]. It took eight years for Richardson to complete the project, and the fruits of his labor haven’t gone unnoticed.

John P. Sisk [2] described Mind on Fire as “an enormous reading assignment,” but admitted this to be inevitable of any work of this proportion. In describing Emerson’s many “lectures, notebooks, and indexes that together reached more than 230 volumes” he described Richardson’s work as giving “the impression of a graceful and judicious mastery of [them]. Sisk characterized Richardson’s biography as “impressive.”

James M. Albrecht [3] praised Richardson for the book, admitting that no biography can truly explain such a literary figure as well as his works can; Albrecht agreed that crafting a more personal account of Emerson’s life would allow readers to better understand him. While he characterized the biography as “bookish enough to try the patience of general readers,” he believed Richardson to have “succeeded admirably in an ambitious project combining a detailed portrait of Emerson the thinker with a fresh and sympathetic perspective on Emerson the man.” Despite noticing several inconsistencies and underestimations, Albrecht gave both biography and biographer a positive review, and recognized the authenticity of the biography. He described Richardson’s approach as much more thorough than that of previous biographers.

And why should critics be disappointed? Richardson amassed a myriad of sources to recreate Emerson’s life, including personal correspondence, journal entries, (both published and unpublished) essays and sermons, books (both by Emerson and his many influences), and image reproductions. In order for a book of this magnitude to appeal to a general audience, Richardson also paid close attention to its organization.

He divides the book chronologically into eleven stages of Emerson’s life, beginning with a short recollection of one of the writer’s pivotal moments: the opening of his wife Ellen’s tomb and coffin. The story then shoots back eleven years to his early family and academic experiences. Richardson further divides the biography into short sections, one hundred in all, providing an effective strategy to keep readers engaged. This is where Richardson’s true genius is: his approach to the organization is reminiscent of Emerson’s style of reading and writing. “Reading in all directions” [1] and writing on various subjects as they hit him allowed Emerson to quench his ever growing thirst for knowledge at his own tempo. In employing this style of presentation, Richardson allows us to approach Emerson’s experience more closely.

The sixteen pages of images in the book’s center provide an interlude of sorts, giving the reader a visual glimpse of Emerson’s countenance and familiarized me with family members, literary influences, and several of Emerson’s homes. The captions include explanations of the images as well as their locations and permissions information.

The appendices include genealogical information, a chronology of his life, a principal sources section (which incorporates abbreviations and short titles of works), a notes section, and an index. The notes section is a particular testament to Richardson’s superior organization as he breaks it up much like the book, utilizing each section’s title and number to differentiate it. This made it easier for me to access key information as I read. The superscript numbers begin fresh with each section, just as they do in the main body of the text.

Richardson’s biography is a great achievement in literary scholarship. Spanning eight years and involving countless collaborators and resources, Emerson: the mind on fire is essential for anyone interested in the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Richardson is no stranger to literary history. In addition to editing various poetry anthologies, he’s also translated for several projects and authored books like Henry Thoreau: a life of the mind, and Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance.

Cited in this post:

[1] Richardson, Robert D. Emerson: The Mind on Fire: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.

[2] Sisk, J.P. “[Review of] Richardson, Robert D. Jr.: Emerson: The Mind on Fire: A Biography.” American Scholar 65.1 (1996): 132-34.

[3] Albrecht, J.M. “[Review of] Richardson, Robert D. Jr.: Emerson: The Mind on Fire: A Biography.” Raritan 15.3 (1996): 148-60.

Extras:

The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Texts
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Critical Essays
Transcendentalists.com – RWE Section