GLR September-October 2023

abused each other, retreating into silences and avoidance, apol ogizing, and trying to mend the breach between them. By 1851, both were exhausted by the futility of the struggle. “ I thought that friendship — that love was still possible, ” Thoreau wrote. “ I thought that we had not withdrawn very far asunder — But now ... that distance seems infinitely increased. ” A few months later he added: “ I know not how it is that our distrust, our hate is stronger than our love. Here I have been on what the world would call friendly terms with one 14 years, have pleased my imagination sometimes with loving him — and yet our hate is stronger than our love. ” Thoreau ’ s pathological obstinacy had long since become legendary. It has been suggested that Thoreau may have suf fered from Asperger syndrome, which could help explain his inability to sustain a consistent relationship with Emerson (or anyone else). The shape-shifting Thoreau ’ s seductive Pan is gradually revealed to be a sadistic trickster. In 1848, Emer son mourned: “ Henry Thoreau is like the wood-god who so licits the wandering poet and draws him into antres [caverns] vast and deserts idle, and bereaves him of his memory, and leaves him naked, plaiting vines and with twigs in his hand. ... As for taking Thoreau ’ s arm, I should as soon take the arm of an elm tree. ” C ONCLUSION The idea that “ Self-Reliance ” can be read as a challenge to come out of the closet may be a modern conceit, yet it seems a necessary inference if we follow Emerson ’ s demand that we be honest with ourselves in all things. “ I will not hide my tastes or aversions, ” he affirms. By giving Thoreau one of his own bedrooms to inhabit for several years, Emerson made good on his own challenge to play the role of husband in his family in a “ new and unprecedented way. ” Whatever the mo tive or logistics of this arrangement, it was aberrant enough to provoke lively discussion among Concord ’ s general store spectators. Following the Civil War and its general darkening of the American spirit, it became increasingly important to Emerson and his family to protect his personal safety and reputation, as well as Thoreau ’ s. Emerson increasingly criticized and publicly distanced himself from the scandalous Walt Whitman (who had remained Thoreau ’ s hero until his death in 1862, and who sug gested that Emerson was still his sincere friend). Even Whit man ’ s circle was forced to issue their own official damnation of manly sex in 1875, when Standish O ’ Grady ’ s essay on “ The Poet of Joy ” warned how the Greeks had allowed passionate friendships to run riot and assume “ abnormal forms. ” Nevertheless, the most telltale record of Emerson ’ s influ ence comes from Whitman. In the second edition of Leaves of Grass , Whitman published a sprawling, megalomaniacal open letter of appreciation to Emerson, proclaiming. “ Of course we shall have a national character, an identity ” standing in solidar ity upon “ that new moral American continent. ” Using the term “ the supremacy of Individuality, ” he identified this new moral ity with Emerson ’ s self-reliance. Like an explorer, Emerson was the first to land on its shores, an “ original true Captain ” who rendered the first report of its discovery. “ I say that none has ever done, or ever can do, a greater deed for The States, than your deed. ” September – October 2023

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