WALDEN OU LA VIE DANS LES BOIS

Henry David Thoreau, a leading 19th Century American writer, published Walden or Life in the Woods in 1854, a work in which he poses the question: how are we to live a philosophical life, one in which we take joy from the splendour of each new morning, we yearn for the happiness which is not given but instead must be created, we turn disadvantages into advantages and we seek the positive in the negative? But also a life in which we shun false values, honours, wealth, appearances and mundane social triviality. We must, he tells us, change ourselves. In order to do so, each of us must devote ourselves to spiritual exercise. “Live the life you’ve imagined”, “Love your live”, “Simplify, simplify”, “Live free and uncommitted”... Henry David Thoreau was the pioneer of many modern day ideological movements.