[美] 梭罗(H.D.Thoreau)

HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) was an American author, poet, naturalist, historian,philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 2o volumes, among which Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, is best known.Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1845 Thoreau leased some land owned by his friend and mentor,Ralph Waldo Emerson on Walden Pond near Concord,Massachusetts,and lived in a cabin on it for two years,two months,and two days.The experience gave Thoreau the chance to make keen observations on the world around him.The result became an American classic:Walden,which explores not only the soul of the searching Thoreau,but defines what it means to be a truly free person,and distills the essence of our relationship of Nature.