/lit/ - Literature

>>12503041
absolutely nothing to prepare. maybe nietzsche because nietzsche influenced by this guy, maybe have a fun time with comparing two

Plotinus - On Beauty

>>12503041
Emerson is super easy and pleasant to read

>>12503261
btw wasn't he an idiot? I mean I always hear about him like "a transcendantalist" which doesn't mean shit except someone (himself?) tried to mimic a 'movement' or 'school' (like romanticism, idealism?) as if there were a lot of people among them... well there's Emerson but apart from the fact that he wrote some stuff, I never see him seriously mentioned as a poet or a philosopher or anything specific and serious.
Not trying to depreciate him, sincerely wondering since there's a gap between his name (quite often coined, and related to the specific 'transcendantalist' label) and his work (hardly ever discussed or recommended).

>>12503041
Emerson is like a dude who hasn’t read philosophy in his life writing down is shower thoughts. He is comfy though. I could imagine him making YouTube videos for some reason.

Of course, vastly overrated just for being American.

>>12503269
Emerson was the de facto leader of the transcendentalist movement for what that's worth
also he was mainly an essayist, so there is no single work of his that is particularily recommended
another thing is that Emerson deliberately tried to seperate himself from the European philosophical tradition, so it doesn't really fit anywhere and is just personal musings - easy to get into, but without much weight in the context of world philosophy

>>12503298
pragmatism

>>12503298
>also he was mainly an essayist
His great model's Montaigne, and like Montaigne he's full of quotes and centos of the many authors he particularly admires. If youre young and just starting out youll probably be blown away; Emily Dickinson renders him transparent, however, and Montaigne's a more capacious mind. The Essays including Nature detail the ways and means to sell politicized Protestant Anglo-Americans upon themselves- be yourself, interpret for yourself, rely on yourself, there's nobody like me (you), etc.

Metaphysical Club is a good book to read prior just to understand pragmatism from a historical perspective. Not required to read Emerson but certainly would enhance the reading. Doesn’t hurt it’s a great book.

>>12503298
This is true but many philosophers have both admired and referenced him; Nietzsche (perhaps his major approving reader) somewhere expresses his regret that Emerson received no formal, European education, however.

>>12503054
Deeply misguided post, unfortunately. Nietzsche was hugely influenced by Emerson. Stanley Cavell traces the lineage in multiple different books. Many people in this thread have just clearly never approached Emerson in an academic setting. Nature is a cool essay but there's so much more to him. Would that everyone would start with The American Scholar instead of Nature... in another reality this is true

ANyway
Emerson is probably the best and one of the only examples of an American philosopher as such (not talking about profs post 1970). Emerson was highly influenced by Plato first and foremost, followed by Puritan Christianity (Exodus and Luke being some of the most important Bible books for E), and much of his writing (eg Higher Laws for example, but really anything) reflects this once u have Plato's name in your mind.
I think Emerson is instrumental for understanding the culture today, in America, particularly re shame (and shamelessness, moreso). It would be very interesting to see an essay on American pop culture today as a bastardization of Emerson's writing

Some have mentioned Montaigne, yes a fine place to go before Emerson. Carlyle's Sartor Resartus is worth checking out. Emerson loved it so much he got it published in the US after it was poorly received in Britain and wrote the first introduction to it.

Where to start?
The American Scholar, then something like Self-Reliance, Circles, and end with Experience.Know that his son died between the composition of Circles and Experience and that it devastated him. Besides that, Stanley Cavell has excellent secondary literature situating him in relation to Nietzsche and Plato (some would say Emerson is the link between the two, and I know saying as much here will get many peoples' panties in a bunch lol)

>>12507797
I say start with The American Scholar because it will teach you how to read Emerson. That is, in it he opens up the notion of "reading creatively." Cavell has great readings of this concept.
Also important to note that Emerson works at the level of the sentence, not the paragraph. Points come at u much faster this way. Put another way, Emerson is extremely dense and u have to be careful not to miss the meat of what he's saying (it's in every sentence); I pity those in this thread who have called reading him relaxing. It's a pleasant experience but also fun in how demanding it is; read Thoreau if u want to relax. Emerson is heavy lifting.

>>12504702
just wanted to tell you I plan on checking that out.

>>12504256
>>12507797
These
>bastardization
this bastard's the king of Madison Av

>>12507797
>Emerson is probably the best and one of the only examples of an American philosopher as such (not talking about profs post 1970). Emerson was highly influenced by Plato first and foremost, followed by Puritan Christianity (Exodus and Luke being some of the most important Bible books for E), and much of his writing (eg Higher Laws for example, but really anything) reflects this once u have Plato's name in your mind.
Yep, I'll just avoid him altogether.

>>12503041
He’s kind of the equivalent of a modern soi boy imo.

Just trying to be edgey and better than everyone else. A certain personality type you know?

>>12509627
not sure if bait or a genuine sub-60 IQ post