Events/Courses - Event View

The most recent in the long tradition of Annual Gatherings to celebrate the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau adopted the theme of “resilience,” recognizing that Thoreau has been a popular figure — icon or caricature — in American culture, even long before he was the subject of annual remembrance. This course looks at his survival in memory and spirit from his early death in Concord, MA, in 1862, up to his presence on a world stage in the 21st century — through his influence on Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other civil rights leaders in the United States, to the somewhat surprising context of debates about the responsibility to dissent among soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces and post-9/11 defendants in the U.S.

This course will consist of readings of several essays on civil disobedience and rebellion as well the “Bean-Field” chapter of Walden, and passages from our own time emerging from fields of contemporary conflict. Prepare for vigorous discussion about whether Thoreau was merely an accidental rebel or a deliberate anarchist at heart.

Instructor Stephen Hahn is emeritus professor of English at William Paterson University and a member of the Coastal Senior College for the past four years. He has taught courses on the literature of aging and on the tradition of “Mill Stories.” He is a member of the executive council of the William Carlos Williams Society and editorial advisory board of the William Carlos Williams Review. He and his wife Chrystena live in Falmouth (Maine) and have a camp in Vassalboro.