From Thoreau to Rimbaud — Twelve Writers Go for a Walk

I seem to have more thoughts in motion than sitting still. Hard exercise may be different, but at the pace of an ordinary walk there’s time for one idea to lead to another.

Some writers seem to have had a similar experience. From Thoreau to Rimbaud: Words on the Road gathers essays and poems about walking.

Twelve Writers, Twelve Ways to Go

The collection brings together writers who found different things in the same activity:

• Henry David Thoreau
• Christopher Morley
• Hilaire Belloc
• Arthur Rimbaud
• Leslie Stephen
• Walt Whitman
• John Burroughs
• George Gissing
• Robert Louis Stevenson
• William Hazlitt
• Max Beerbohm
• John Finley

The writers disagree on what makes a good walk. One heads for the woods, another likes a road made smooth by human hands. Where they want to go tells you something about the person writing.

One contributor dislikes walking altogether. In a short essay, the question becomes what excuse to give for declining a walk.

Henry David Thoreau and the Natural World

Thoreau gives the collection a centre of gravity. The author of Walden is the writer here most closely associated with the value of spending time in nature.

In Walden he writes about building a cabin near Walden Pond and what he learned by living there. It is a much longer encounter with the concerns that run through this collection.

Thoughts You Have Only in Motion

Walking brings up ideas I’m less likely to have at my desk. I’ve noticed something similar when I’m moving through town on a bus.

The trouble comes afterwards. I sit down to write out what seemed clear on the walk and find I can no longer call it to mind.

What Other People Think about While Walking

It is interesting to find out where a famous writer’s thoughts go during a walk. Sometimes they recognise something I thought was mine. Other times, they notice what I would have walked right past.

The collection often turns toward nature, and some of the reflections can move slowly. That slow pace can also be a reason to open it.

The title fits the contents. These are words people found while they were on the road, gathered in one place for someone else to take along.

Book Information

From Thoreau to Rimbaud: Words on the Road (Korean title, translated)

Contributors

Henry David Thoreau, Christopher Morley, Hilaire Belloc, Arthur Rimbaud, Leslie Stephen, Walt Whitman, John Burroughs, George Gissing, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Hazlitt, Max Beerbohm and John Finley

Publication date

24 July 2013

ISBN

9788956592091

View the book at Kyobo

We may earn a commission on purchases made through the affiliate link in this article.