NOW COMES GOOD SAILING NOW COMES GOOD SAILING Writers Reflect on Henry David Thoreau Edited by Andrew Blauner prince ton university press princet on & oxford Compilation and preface copyright © 2021 by Andrew Blauner Additional notices of copyright appear on pages 347–48. Prince ton University Press is committed to the protection of copyright and the intellectual property our authors entrust to us. Copyright promotes the pro gress and integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by purchasing an authorized edition of this book. If you wish to reproduce or distribute any part of it in any form, please obtain permission. Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to permissions@press . princeton . edu Published by Prince ton University Press 41 William Street, Prince ton, New Jersey 08540 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR press . princeton . edu All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Blauner, Andrew, editor. Title: Now comes good sailing : writers reflect on Henry David Thoreau / edited by Andrew Blauner. Description: Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2021013407 (print) | LCCN 2021013408 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691215228 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691230955 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Thoreau, Henry David, 1817–1862—Influence. | Thoreau, Henry David, 1817–1862—Appreciation. | BISAC: LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures | LCGFT: Essays. Classification: LCC S3053 .N69 2021 (print) | LCC PS3053 (ebook) | DDC 818/.309 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021013407 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021013408 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available Editorial: Anne Savarese, James Collier Production Editorial: Lauren Lepow Text Design: Karl Spurzem Jacket Design: Pamela L. Schnitter Production: Danielle Amatucci Publicity: Jodi Price, Carmen Jimenez Jacket art by Erik Linton / LintonArt This book has been composed in Arno Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of Amer i ca 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To John McPhee From here on in, I rag nobody. —H enry Wiggen, Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris CONTENTS Preface by Andrew Blauner xi Acknowledgments xiii excursions near and far Wild Apples 3 Lauren Groff My Guidebook to Japan 13 Pico Iyer Walden and the Black Quest for Nature, or My Summer Vacation with Big Sis 23 Gerald Early Twenty- Four Hours on Pea Island 41 Jordan Salama The Fragility of Solitude 51 Rafia Zakaria My Failure 62 Mona Simpson vii viii Contents Without 70 Megan Marshall deliberate living To a Slower Life 95 Alan Lightman Walden as an Art 104 Robert Sullivan The Year of Not Living Thickly 118 Sherry Turkle If I Had Loved Her Less 127 Jennifer Finney Boylan Following Thoreau 148 Kristen Case directions of his dreams Thoreau on Ice 161 George Howe Colt “The Rec ord of My Love”: Thoreau and the Art of Science 176 Michelle Nijhuis The Apples of His Eye 188 A. O. Scott Contents ix You Bring the Weather with You 198 Zoë Pollak Thoreau in Love 206 James Marcus practicalities As for Clothing 219 Amor Towles On Pencils and Purpose 227 Celeste Headlee The House That Thoreau Built 238 Paul Elie Is It Worth the While? 249 Geoff Wisner A Few Ele ments of American Style 259 Adam Gopnik at walden Concord Is a Kind of Word 271 Will Eno Dolittle’s Rebellion 287 Stacey Vanek Smith