Essay
Concord Days
Amos Bronson Alcott · 1872
Synopsis
Fragments of a journal kept in Concord, in New England, dated by the day and arranged by month, from April to September. The author speaks of his house and garden, notes his reading, Plato, Plotinus, the mystics, the poems of his friend Channing, and composes portraits of his contemporaries: Emerson and his lectures from town to town, Thoreau, his friend and neighbour, Hawthorne. He also returns to his classes, through a conversation with children about the Gospel, and to the communal farm of Fruitlands.
Context
The work appeared four years after the success of his daughter's novel, which had put the family out of want, and follows a first collection drawn from his notebooks, published in 1868; a third came in 1877. The author returns there to Fruitlands, founded in 1843 with the English mystic Charles Lane, where the labour of animals was refused, and cotton too because it came from slaves; the community lasted about seven months. His daughter gave a satire of it the following year.
Who it is for
A collection of notes and fragments, with no continuous structure. It is read entry by entry and requires no particular order.
Prizes and reception
Published in Boston by Roberts Brothers, the book has remained without a French translation; its author remains known as an educator and as the father of Louisa May Alcott.