London, England: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996. 1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed. Softcover. Near fine copy in the original stiff-card wrappers; edges very slightly dust-dulled and toned. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description: xiv, 174 pages; 24 cm. Contents: Uses of great men -- Plato, or the philosopher -- Plate: new readings -- Swedenborg, or the mystic -- Montaigne, or the skeptic -- Shakespeare, or the poet -- Napoleon, or the man of the world -- Goethe, or the writer. Sumnmary: In 1845 Ralph Waldo Emerson began a series of lectures and writings in which he limned six figures who embodied the principles and aspirations of a still-young American republic. Emerson offers timeless meditations on the value of individual greatness, reconnecting readers with the everyday virtues of his ""Representative Men."" Subjects: Biography. Languages & Literatures.American Literature. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, -- 1749-1832. Montaigne, Michel de, -- 1533-1592. Napoleon -- I, -- Emperor of the French, -- 1769-1821. Shakespeare, William, -- 1564-1616.Swedenborg, Emanuel, -- 1688-1772.

Synopsis

From the book:IT IS NATURAL to believe in great men. If the companions of our childhood should turn out to be heroes, and their condition regal it would not surprise us. All mythology opens with demigods, and the circumstance is high and poetic; that is, their genius is paramount. In the legends of the Gautama, the first men ate the earth and found it deliciously sweet. Nature seems to exist for the excellent. The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society; and, actually or ideally, we manage to live with superiors. We call our children and our lands by their names. Their names are wrought into the verbs of language, their works and effigies are in our houses, and every circumstance of the day recalls an anecdote of them.

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Bookseller: MW Books Ltd. (IE)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 356704
Title: Representative men: seven lectures / Ralph Waldo Emerson; text established by Douglas Emory Wilson; introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Author: Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Format/Binding: Softcover
Book Condition: Used
Quantity Available: 1
Edition: 1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed
Binding: Paperback
ISBN 10: 0674761057
ISBN 13: 9780674761056
Publisher: London, England: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Place of Publication: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.s.a.
Date Published: 1996

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