Thoreau e as vidas no bosque: da natureza das ideias às ideias sobre a natureza

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to analyze the literature of Henry David Thoreau, specifically the book Walden or life in the woods, originally published in 1854. In this work, the American philosopher recounts his experience of withdrawing from Concord, Massachusetts, to live on the outskirts of the city on the banks of Lake Walden, in a small house that he built with his own hands. Thoreau would live in Walden woods for just over two years, and in that period he would construct a profound reflection on human life and also on non-human existence. In the first moment, we intend to investigate what was the theoretical framework that the philosopher had access making it possible to elaborate his thoughts about society and the environment, otherwise, what were the elements that contributed to the formation of his thought. In sequence, an attempt is made to define the fundamental notions of this thought, which can be verified in the pages of Walden. What was Thoreau's view of the lake? What importance is attached to animal and plant life? How to understand the relationship between humans and non-humans? These are the questions that will help to build an ecocritical view of Thoreau's work, giving the meaning of the narrative of this second chapter. This is the path we intend to take, listing the points that we believe are crucial to understanding Thoreau's thinking at the time, and also drawing criticisms that are still consistent today.