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The Conduct of Life

Nonfiction Prose

1860 collection including Fate, Power and Wealth; his last major essay collection, more attentive to necessity and constraint than the confident individualism of 1841.

Facts
Classification
Audience
General 1
Original Language
English 1
Composed, From (Year)
from 1860 1
Composed, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own account
to 1860 2
FAQs

What question does Emerson set out to answer in The Conduct of Life?

In the opening essay of The Conduct of Life, as given in the Project Gutenberg text, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes: "To me, however, the question of the times resolved itself into a practical question of the conduct of life. How shall I live? We are incompetent to solve the times. Our geometry cannot span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return, and reconcile their opposition. We can only obey our own polarity."
Connections

Associated With

The Essay, Forms
Source Robert D. Richardson, Emerson: The Mind on Fire (1995)

1860, the same year the movement's own period-end-year marks (Emerson's last major collection in the movement's idiom).

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Authored By

Source Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (1860)

In Genre

In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Source Wikipedia: The Conduct of Lifetier 2
Sources
1. Wikipedia: The Conduct of Life
Wikipedia
  • Lead
    The Conduct of Life is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson published in 1860 and revised in 1876.
  • Lead paragraph
    The Conduct of Life is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson published in 1860 and revised in 1876. In this volume, Emerson sets out to answer "the question of the times:" "How shall I live?" It is composed of nine essays, each preceded by a poem.
View the Source
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (1860)
Robert D. Richardson, Emerson: The Mind on Fire (1995)
Associated With: The Essay
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Associated With: TranscendentalismView the Source
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