Henry Thoreau's Walden is often classified as a philosophical autobiography recounting his two-year experience in a forest outside of Concord, Massachusetts. Residing in a small cabin overlooking Walden Pond, Thoreau spent his days observing nature, meeting travelers, baking bread, and planting seeds. The importance of Walden lies in Thoreau's unique philosophical perspective and connection to nature. When Thoreau wasn't visiting, he wandered through the woods, dissecting what people called progress. At the time, the fledgling country was experiencing growing pains and transforming into a commercial empire that bothered Thoreau. He did not like to see his compatriots enslaved by an illusory conquest of material gain. This type of industrial progress, Thoreau believed, led “masses of men to lead lives of quiet desperation” (6). Thoreau wanted to escape this scene, get rid of material things and live a humble existence. For him, the acquisition of material objects acted as a corruptor, polluting humanity and acting as a barrier to the beauty of the natural world. He did not want to “live what was not life” (85). In his own words, Thoreau wrote that he went into the woods "to live deliberately, to face the only essential facts of life and learn what it had to teach, so that when he died he would not discover not that he hadn't lived” (85).Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Such deep thoughts seem perfect for an autobiography. Regarding the genre classification for Walden, Markus Poetzsch writes: "Indeed, insofar as Walden, at its textual center, is not simply the story of a pond but of Thoreau's life on the edge of the pond, it is vitally and irreducibly autobiographical” (2). J. Lyndon Shanley argues that Walden is actually a combination of three genres: “a chronicle, a topical essay, and a persuasive argument” (1). Furthermore, the work could be placed in the genre of philosophy, because in some sections it has the same didactic tone as the essay "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which discusses in detail the beliefs of transcendentalism. Although Thoreau adopts a similar tone in his work, the whole experience at Walden Pond does not seem to fit the pedagogical and sermonizing effect that Emerson was seeking in his essay. Even calling this work pure philosophy is an uncomfortable designation due to the intimate descriptions of nature given by Thoreau as he wanders through the shady woods of Concord. Traditional philosophy, like that written by the Greeks, focuses on logic, argumentation, and dialectics. Plato, when writing the dialogues of his former teacher, Socrates, is emotionally detached from the experience, offering little or no sensation to the scenes rendered by the dialogue. Thoreau, on the other hand, romanticizes what he sees and feels. Here in Walden the message is personal and attempts to converse with the reader. If Thoreau's Walden fails to be a true autobiography and contains too much emotion to be merely a work of internal philosophy, then what is it? Without knowing it, Thoreau's work was a precursor of a new genre: creative non-fiction. The personal and creative connection that Thoreau attributes to his time in the woods is highly stylized in his prose and reads like fiction even though it is not. Thoreau's masterpiece is full of symbolism, poetry and overarching themes that transcend what could have been just a two-dimensional autobiography about life far from progresshesitant of humanity. Thoreau does not express himself in a detached, scientific manner, describing the natural world as if it were a romantic landscape portrait full of bright colors, showing him as a poetic philosopher gifted at creating a full-bodied narrative; However, even with these qualities, it is questionable how true Thoreau's experiment was and whether the story is closer to a fictional memory instead of a factual account. These are questions that the reader might ask and can understand by examining the conventions of this new genre. That said, it seems that Thoreau's reliability and motivations regarding his experience at Walden Pond are questionable: why did he write Walden and what was his purpose? At various points in the story, Thoreau's denigration of everyday life can be off-putting, affecting the reader's sympathy for the narrator, which can be detrimental to the success of a creative work of nonfiction. In addressing these concerns, with regard to genre, it is possible to see that the work has its flaws, but is akin in spirit to the fourth genre. The creative genre of nonfiction is still relatively young relative to the amounts of scholarship and analysis. given to fiction or poetry; nevertheless, its childhood in the wide range of printed words does not mean that there are few works to read. In fact, the genre has been of interest to readers for hundreds of years. Lee Gutkind, editor of Creative Nonfiction Magazine, isn't sure who came up with the genre's name. His best memory of when the genre became official was in 1983, at a meeting hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. They were trying to decide what to call genre “as a category” for their scholarship (Creative Nonfiction). Until then, the genre was unofficially without a distinctive name to distinguish it from classic nonfiction. So what is the difference between nonfiction and creative nonfiction? The answer to this question is simply that the fourth genre shares elements of fiction and nonfiction. This response would suggest, in some terms, a flaw in literary physics: how can a work share contradictory elements without becoming one or the other in its creation? The truth is simple: creative nonfiction, like nonfiction, shares the biographical aspect, but unlike its ancestor, it is written using fictional storytelling techniques. Thus, creative nonfiction authors tell their stories with the precision of an autobiographer, but the revelation of facts is not done in a formal, linear style. Instead, the author uses fictional devices, such as symbolism, character development, plot manipulation, irony, and dialogue to emphasize events. The effect of crossing genres produces a new entity written with both the honesty of non-fiction and the informality of fiction, giving rise to a genre "dependent less on hermetic reasoning than on style and personality” (Lopate xxiv). This “style and personality” referred to by Phillip Lopate (himself a practitioner of the genre) exists in many forms ranging from personal essay to new journalism and memoir. Even travel or gastronomy writing can be considered members of the same family. The key conventions of the genre are the author's personality and honesty about the facts. The author of a creative nonfiction work is the subject who views the world. This means that the author is writing from the first person point of view, using the "I" instead of the limited or omniscient third person. Preferring the first person to the third raises the age-old debate overreliability of the first-person narrator and the loss of objectivity essential to nonfiction and journalism; However, those who argue against the "I" miss the full importance of its significance for the creative nonfiction writer: the narrative is meant to be personal, intimate (Lopate xxi). The experience is directly filtered through the author's perception of events. Thoreau makes a point of using the first person at the beginning of Walden: “In most books the I, or first person, is omitted; in this he will be remembered… I wouldn't talk about myself so much if there was someone else I knew too. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme due to the narrowness of my experience” (3). The “narrowness of experience” is the author's ability to compress time in the most important scenes of the story. Feelings and thoughts about a person, time, or place are of the utmost importance to the author because, essentially, these are the qualities that make their narrative personal. The cold, distant nature of a newspaper article or third-person biography lacks the colorful charm of direct experience. The use of the first person allows the author to render scenes with general themes, leading to shocking revelations brought about by the event, which can be quite difficult for the inexperienced writer. Developing these ideas sometimes requires a lot of thought and even personal growth. To write effectively in this genre, personal essayist and creative nonfiction writer Vivian Gornick believes that the writer must "convince the reader that he has some wisdom and that he is writing as honestly as possible to get to that point." that he knows. In addition, the author of the personal account must also persuade the reader that the account is reliable” (14). Since Walden is a possible prototype of creative nonfiction, the reader might question the reliability of Thoreau's perspective on life in the woods. . Since so much time has passed, readers are provided with historical context to dispel any doubts. According to an article in the Benét Reader Encyclopedia, “Thoreau built a cabin at Walden Pond, on land owned by Emerson. He lived there two years, two months and two days” (1022). For the sake of idle curiosity, a replica of the original cabin is located opposite the famous blue pond. Not far away stands a statue of Thoreau himself, gazing into the distance. Other historical facts are that he was imprisoned for not paying a tax to support the Mexican War. He was editor of a transcendental publication, The Dial, and was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson (1022). He graduated from Harvard and attempted to become a teacher, but found the profession unfulfilling. Consideration of all of these historical facts can give the reader insight into Thoreau's actions as a transcendental pacifist unable to find a profession or society suitable enough to support his philosophies; Yet these memories of the past say very little about what the man thought and felt. Only Thoreau can actualize this inner reflection and bring his thoughts to life. All of his character's outward actions are supported by his thoughts on life, nature and humanity. Thoreau invites readers to go into the woods with him, so that they can also gain insight into the experience he had at Walden Pond. If Thoreau can be considered a creative nonfiction writer, then his job as a narrator is to write the experience well enough that the reader can trust him. His painstakingly complex thoughts on the direction society was heading, as well asWalden Pond's elaborate descriptions of life support the historical facts. Still, there might be a bit of uncertainty about how much of his life in Walden actually happened. There is no way to account for every detail of nature as described by his pen. All that remains is to engage with some conventions of the creative nonfiction genre to explore where exactly Walden fits. The adventure begins quite believably. The lens focuses on Thoreau as he walks, making plans for an experiment that will isolate him from the modernity of a burgeoning America. All the while, he makes cold but astute observations about the essential and non-essential elements of life. The first chapter is entitled “Economy”. Gornick's analysis of genre comes into play here. She writes that "every literary work has both a situation and a story. The situation is the context or circumstances, sometimes the plot; the story is the emotional experience that concerns the writer: the insight, the wisdom, what one has to say” (13). For Thoreau's narrative, the situation is the need to get away, to find refuge from the so-called progress that chains humanity to unsatisfying lives of hard work and superficial society; the story is the experience of living two years in a humble and materially free existence and the spiritual relationship that humanity has with nature. At the beginning of the play, Thoreau is planning the details of his plan to travel to Walden, detailing certain expenses. Along the way, he reveals much to the reader about his disenchantment with the condition of his fellow men: "Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through simple ignorance and error, are so busy with false cares and labors superfluous and gross of life that its finest fruits cannot be plucked by them” (6). Thoreau believes that his compatriots enslaved themselves through their professional efforts. Industry is a vile and sick artificial mechanism, draining life through ephemeral gains amounting to a meaningless existence of blind competition. The first chapter of Thoreau's work is prophetic given the evolution of the same issues in the 21st century. People become so obsessed with their careers that they sacrifice all their time to climb the corporate ladder, hoping to reach the top and believing that there is no other choice. Either work or die. Buy the beautiful luxury house, have kids, and continue the same time-honored tradition of keeping up with the Joneses. For Thoreau, much of this slavery comes from the property people own. The more a person has, the more they have to work to maintain it. Thoreau proclaims that “most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but are positive obstacles to the elevation of humanity” (13). After taking leave of the difficult economic situation of civilized society, Thoreau ventures to Walden Pond, where the story begins. Thoreau's objective is clearly stated: "My object in going to Walden Pond was not to live there cheaply nor to live dearly there, but to do business there with the least hindrance" ( 18). The situation in the “Economics” chapter acts as an extended thesis that Thoreau wishes to attempt. By getting rid of the luxuries that anchor people to lives of toil and misery, Thoreau can turn his thesis into reality. He believes he has discovered a path to happiness and wishes to divulge the information to the reader. There were many places Thoreau could have chosen instead of Walden Pond to conduct his experiment: a desert, a cave, or even an island. But Walden Pond,from a creative point of view, has a magical and almost poetic quality. It is not actually a postcard pond intended to attract multitudes of visitors based on its appearance alone. Yet this fits Thoreau’s goals. It has a charming, organic simplicity that invites creative representation. Thoreau, clearly possessing an analytical mind, could have gone to Walden Pond and described exactly what he saw in a scientific manner. After all, the first chapter is indicative of a pragmatic narrator, who even calculates all his expenses to the nearest half cent. On its own, the chapter “The Economy” is not really a good representation of creative nonfiction because there is little action and much of it is judgment. “Clearly, Thoreau holds himself—and his intellect—in a considerably higher esteem than he places the majority of his comrades” (Brooker 2). Thoreau, well-meaning in his thoughts, is condescending in his speech. In particular, his view of the elderly: "In practice, the old have no very important advice to give to the young, their own experience has been so impartial and their lives such miserable failures" (8). The harsh and dismissive criticism of the elderly is a purely one-sided generalization that slightly detracts from the reader's sympathy for Thoreau. His unsympathetic tone is immediately revealed from the start, which might make it difficult for the ordinary reader to invest the time in walking Thoreau's path. Thoreau redeems himself when he goes to Walden Pond, but it takes him time to get used to his personality. In an essay titled "The Development of Thoreau in Walden," Paul Schwaber suggests that Thoreau's attitude can be off-putting, but that there is still much to like about him. “At the beginning of the book, Thoreau speaks as a man apart, although, as the act of writing itself and even his acerbic humor suggest, he is never entirely cut off from some good feeling for his fellow man.” (Schwaber 4). Walking away from humanity lightens the tone of Thoreau's voice, because he finally does what he intended to do. The shift in tone in the Walden Pond chapters may have something to do with the numerous revisions Walden underwent before publication. His first publication, A Week, was a dismal failure, prompting publisher Munroe & Co. to forget about his latest manuscript, even though there was an advertisement for it on the last page of the same work (Sayre 6). Thoreau's publication before Walden Pond was a written tribute to his late brother, John. The story is an account of a boat trip Thoreau took with his brother from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and back. Most likely, readers and editors were put off by the digressions on religion and philosophy. Once it was completed, Thoreau had to raise his own funds to get it published, leaving him heavily in debt. Thoreau did not want to repeat the same mistake he made in his previous publication, so Thoreau decided to continue revising his work. According to essayist Robert F. Sayre, Walden was written in seven different versions "not counting the final copy made by a printer in 1854, and most of the additions were made after 1851" (7). Early versions of the work were full of scathing criticism and satire of progress; “installed in his simple cabin, the author denounced the impostures and delusions of the mass of men” (7). The majority of Thoreau's philosophical criticisms of his peers are found in the first two parts, “Economics, Where I Lived and Why I Lived” (7). Thoreau's constant revisions made Walden a much more enjoyable read. The American naturalistJohn Burroughs believes that the creative elements that Thoreau uses for aesthetic purposes in his narrative are "a restrained extravagance of statement and a compressed exaggeration of metaphor." The hyperbole is great, but it is gritty and firmly held” (2). What Burroughs implies here is that Thoreau's prose is theatrical but refined; he has complete control over his thoughts and none of them, read silently or aloud, are out of place as he describes the scene as if he were painting it on a canvas. There is also a fair amount of sentimentality in Thoreau's prose which is evident when he describes the pond in winter: "Each winter the liquid, quivering surface of the pond, so sensitive to every breath and reflected every light and each shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot and a half…. Like the marmots of the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more” (258). As a creative stylist, Thoreau does a number of things here to beautify. the scene of a frozen pond in this brief little passage. The most obvious is the use of personification. Thoreau treats the pond as if it were a living being that, “like marmots,” goes into hibernation, closing its eyelids until the spring returns to wake it (258). The passage is also full of romantic sentimentality about the whole winter process. Before beginning his day, Thoreau remarks: “O Prince, our eyes gaze with admiration and transmit to the soul the marvelous and varied spectacle of the universe” (258). Thoreau attempts a balancing act: although the opening lines of Nature's oral resolution in this chapter are an example of the hyperbole mentioned by Burroughs. By carefully constructing the lines on the frozen pond, Thoreau manages to soften the prosaic crescendo by returning to an equally romantic notion, but to a much gentler, largo-style approach. Thoreau's musical approach to language is an example of Walden's nonfiction creative element. For all practical purposes, Thoreau could have contented himself with a simple technical observation of the freezing of the pond, forgoing any attempt to sensationalize the experience. Burroughs is grateful that Thoreau kept the creative elements intact because without them "the record would have been much duller." Eliminate from it all its exaggerations, all its bubble-blowing, etc., and you wreak sad havoc on its pages” (4). Sensationalism in prose can sometimes be detrimental to a written work, but sensationalism is partly what Walden is talking about. And sometimes it can be his fault. Although a cursory examination of Thoreau's work gives the reader no reason to doubt his reliability as a narrator; since, however, one could question his motivations. Thoreau wanted people to read his vision; it was more than just a personal vision of life away from society or a continuation of Emerson's work. And generating interest in a product requires a bit of sales savvy. This can happen in a genre like creative nonfiction. The author feels the need to exploit a certain experience for his own satisfaction, whether for pecuniary or intellectual reasons. In an article titled “Give the Game Away: Thoreau's Intellectual Imperialism and the Marketing of Walden Pond,” writer Ira Brooker accuses Thoreau of exploiting Walden Pond for his own “intellectual enrichment” (6). Taking Brooker's idea into account would undermine the placement of Thoreau's work as creative nonfiction, because it suggests that he may have strayed from the truth, harming his sincerity as a narrator in order to obtain recognition that betrays that indicated in his work. Brooker accuses Thoreau of havingwrites a practical book on survival in the wild and to "sell the idea of ​​Walden to the masses" (6). Given the number of times Thoreau rewrote Walden, the question of how much truth was sacrificed in order to make it more palatable is a valid question if the reader is to trust the nonfiction element of the artwork. The question of authenticity and reliability is crucial. to a work of creative non-fiction because without it, the writing becomes fictional. The common saying about good fiction is that it contains an element of truth, but is a figment of the imagination; creative nonfiction, on the other hand, is supposed to be true. Genre writer Lee Gutkind believes that much of a narrative's reliability has to do with writers' "ethical and moral limits and their desire to achieve accuracy and credibility in their work" (xxii) . His answer is that for someone still unfamiliar with the genre, it seems unsatisfactory because the credibility of a work of creative nonfiction rests solely on the conscience of its creator. A storyteller weaves a tale, mixing truth and fiction for entertainment purposes. The biographer sticks only to the facts, ignoring any sort of stylistic flair for fear of getting in the way of the truth. As Gutkind acknowledges, there is a blurred line between the genres of fiction and nonfiction, but there are ways to combat uncertainty (xx-xi). One way to ensure whether a work is in fact real or fictional is to have a team of exceptional lawyers. inspect certain aspects of submitted work; Gutkind mentions that the journal Creative Nonfiction has a group of lawyers who monitor the work before publication (xxiii). Gutkind states, “Our editorial board had to work with lawyers to determine what could be said between a doctor and his patients, what place names should be legitimately disguised, and what places should be omitted” (4). Another way described by Gutkind is a historical overview of facts, documents and historical data to dispel any doubt (xxiii). Unfortunately, despite all these methods, there can still be many doubts about what really happened in a memoir, because much of the written work is subjective. And because of subjectivity, Gutkind's argument that much of a narrative's truth comes from the author's ethical position is not such a far-fetched statement. In contemporary times, with all the lawyers and factual investigations into details, it is much more difficult to create creative nonfiction. poseurs to get away with artificial narratives. Unfortunately for Thoreau, his publishers did not have a group of in-house lawyers to investigate the Walden Pond odyssey from start to finish. It would have cost way too much money, and there's nothing really scandalous written in Walden. Thoreau wrote some disparaging observations about the daily work ritual of his fellow Americans and some of the visitors who wandered his way, but there is no malice in his tone toward any of these people. On the contrary, his tone is sympathetic; he regrets that these people don't take the time to realize how empty their lives are. Of course, it is possible that Thoreau, as Brooker suggests, wrote to Walden to make himself look good, exploit the environment for his own gain, and enjoy a practical guide to life in the woods. Yet there are other interpretations of Thoreau's efforts that openly contradict this assertion. His work has touched many thoughtful people. Anne Labastille, an ecologist, wrote that she did not appreciate Walden's writing until her forties (53-57). She fell in love with the book after, 1947. 3-290.