Background: Session Two A

A Chronology of Emerson's Life. Paul also will present the beginning of a fictional dialogue between Emerson and a young Civil War veteran.

Session Summary

We started our second session by reviewing some of the key dates in Emerson's chronology (see online chronology). Several people had read different biographies and augmented Lyle's time line with facts and anecdotes. We decided to finish the historical overview of Emerson's life in the third session.

The second half of this evening began with a story. Paul wrote an imaginative anecdote from Emerson's point of view that could have happened on one of his many lecturing tours. This tour is to Concord. Against the backdrop of the civil war, Emerson speaks on the Oversoul. Among the audience is a battered young confederate soldier who mistakenly thought he was attending a revivalist meeting. Emerson is drawn to the soldier's attentiveness and seeks him out after the lecture. As their conversation develops we are drawn into Theo Battershand's struggle with ambiguity. During a recent battle, he observed the hanging of a Negro. Although Theo found the war a revolting dispelling of his heroic illusions, he was shocked at finding the hanging a beautiful experience. Emerson's compassionate response echoes his understanding of Oversoul as he seeks to guide young Theo in integrating this experience with a larger vision.

The village of Concord has historical connections to the Civil War. As the movie Glory points out, nearby Boston was the genesis of the 54th regiment, the first Negro regiment of the war. Also, the Boston Slave Bill had just been issued. Abolitionists were appalled at the sanction of slavery that the Bill endorsed. The Bill caused Emerson to write a scathing letter to president Van Buren. Paul noted that although Emerson was mostly apolitical, he became enraged at the underlying issues of the civil war. Emerson felt that it was better to fight and die for people instead of politics. Paul shared two contemporary pieces of fiction that also helped form his story: The Red Badge of Courage and Ambrose Bierce's Hanging at Owl Ridge.

Theo Battershand (Theo--god-lover, Batter--life) is the protagonist in this tale that contrasts the war's devastation with the optimism of Oversoul. As a soldier he has to deal constantly with death. Until the hanging, he was strictly an observer. Confused by his own response, he begins to seek forgiveness, like anyone who seriously attempts to reconcile the demonic and sublime in his own life. Paul describes Theo's clothes as worn and tattered. His defenses are worn thin, both internally and externally.

Emerson is revealed as deeply caring, but not personalistic. He feels for Theo's confusion, but believes that his vision of wholeness is greater than personal or historical fracture. Emerson looked for God amongst people and nature. But he also needed to be somewhat removed from day to day life to nurture his vision through writing. If he had had a community that would have supported him, he could possibly have devoted more time to writing. But the inevitable participation in community would most likely have distracted him more than lecturing ever did. As it was, Emerson hated the upheaval of touring the country. Although providing the financial support for his writing, the lyceum lectures began to attract people to his popularity, not his ideas. He became increasingly shriveled by accolades that inflated his persona and overlooked the private person. It must have been disheartening to reveal the fruit of his musing in a revivalist environment.

But inspite of these drawbacks, Emerson used the lecture format to hone his ideas. They would often start in raw form in his journals, inspired by his reading and reflection. As he spoke he would revise his ideas from lecture to lecture, and then complete the refining process when he wrote his essays. This is partly why his writing seems so dense.

Paul found it remarkable how much studying and writing on Emerson is a blend between research and life. To craft a story, Paul had to participate both in the thought and times of Emerson. It seemed sometimes like time travel. Instead of letting the volume of research influence him towards a discursive style, Paul wants to use fiction to evoke the reader into participation with Emerson, to feel for what Emerson is about. The research is crucial for providing facts. It allows the imagination to speak truth beyond facts.

Although the story is unfinished, many of us found it riveting, both in the tension of the content and in the portrayal of the two men. Fiction is more compelling than facts alone, and grounds research and theory. Although the details of the story didn't happen, the tale did capture essential contextual facts of Emerson's life and the life of America at the time. Fiction can bring dry facts to life and get the reader/listener to participate.

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