Constance Smedley on readings in American literature: 'Thoreau ... opened the door to a philosophy of life when I was about fifteen ... in his train came Emerson and Lowell ...'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Constance Smedley Print: Unknown
[Bill Naughton was hurt that when he applied for conscientious objector status the tribunal was suspicious of his elevated vocabulary] '"I couldn't help feeling hurt", Naughton recalled, "that they should deny one the right to use the English language". That hit both ethnic and class nerves: he had been born in County Mayo of peasant stock. At any rate, he was using the language to read Locke, Nietzsche, Thoreau, Schopenhauer, Marx and The Faerie Queene. They were not easy to decipher at first, but as he pieced together an understanding of what he was reading, he became more critical and less deferential...'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Bill Naughton Print: Book
'I arrived half-dead at La Neuville, and slept there
for twelve hours or more. The next day we went to
Braches, and then on foot to Rouvrel. About there,
the country was unscathed by war, and very
beautiful. On a bank by the roadside, I took
Walden out of my pocket, where it had been
forgotten since the morning of the 21st, and there
began to read it. At Rouvrel the rest of the
Battalion rejoined us the next day.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Herbert Edward Read Print: Book
