Rereading <i>Walden</i>

Abstract This essay — a contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium titled “The Satisfactions of Asceticism” — is the result of an experiment in rereading. It is based on Henry David Thoreau's commitment to reading as an ascetic activity. Thoreau wrote that “to read well” is “to read true books in a true spirit” and that such an exercise “will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem.” At a time when students and educators alike struggle with reading, and when artificial intelligence is poised to transform the relationship of human beings to written forms, Walden offers a radical perspective on why one should persist with books. Dedication to the training demanded by engagement and reengagement with works like Walden, books about ascetic practice, conduces to unique pleasures and to the reconceptualization of pleasure in one's own life.