THE ACT OF READING THOREAU’S WALDEN

Authors

  • Ana Lúcia Almeida Salles

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17851/1982-0739.8..21-28

Keywords:

Henry David Thoreau, Wolfgang Iser, reader-response theory, textual strategies

Abstract

This essay investigates Henry David Thoreau’s Walden from the perspective of Wolfgang Iser’s theory of reader-response. The present analysis demonstrates the presence of negations and blanks, and detects strategies that leadthe reader to respond by assembling meanings, constructing images, identifying metaphors, and participating in some of the narrator’s transcendental experiences.

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Author Biography

  • Ana Lúcia Almeida Salles
    Mestre em Letras: Estudos Literários (Área de concentração: Literaturas de Expressão Inglesa), 2003.

References

ISER, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1981.

KRUTCH, Joseph Wood (Ed.). Introduction. Walden and Other Writings by Henry David Thoreau. By Henry David Thoreau. Toronto: Bantam, 1982. 1-23.

MCELRATH, Joseph R., Jr. Thoreau’s Walden. Cliffs Notes. Ed. Gary Carey. Lincoln, NE: Cliffs Notes, 1995.

THOREAU, Henry David. Walden and Civil Disobedience. Norton Critical Editions. Ed. Owen Thomas. New York: Norton, 1966.

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Published

2004-12-31

Issue

Vol. 8 (2004)

Section

Em Tese

How to Cite

SALLES, Ana Lúcia Almeida. THE ACT OF READING THOREAU’S WALDEN. Em Tese, Belo Horizonte, v. 8, p. 21–28, 2004. DOI: 10.17851/1982-0739.8.21-28. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/emt/article/view/32396. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2026.