701 Emerson's Struggle with Slavery (with Kenneth Sacks) | My Last Book with Victoria Namkung | We Had Sex Inside Moby-Dick!

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Books, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For several decades, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was perhaps the most prominent writer and intellectual in America. As an advocate of personal freedom living in Massachusetts, surrounded by passionate abolitionists, one might expect that his positions regarding slavery would be obvious and uncomplicated. And yet, Emerson struggled with the issue - not whether it was wrong (he was opposed to it), but the extent to which it obliged him or others to take action, and if so, how best to act in a way consistent with his philosophical principles. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Kenneth Sacks (Emerson's Civil Wars: Spirit in Society in the Age of Abolition) about what Emerson's wavering between self-reliance and collective action can tell us about who he was as a thinker and person - and whether his journey has lessons for the rest of us. PLUS Victoria Namkung (An Immortal Book: Selected Writings by Sui Sin Far) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read. AND ALSO Jacke jumps into the belly of the clickbait whale, following the headline "We Had Sex Inside Moby-Dick!" to learn about Japan's love hotels and their connection(?) to the Herman Melville classic. Additional listening: 667 Sui Sin Far with Victoria Namkung 603 Rethinking Ralph Waldo Emerson (with James Marcus) 111 The Americanest American - Ralph Waldo Emerson The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and Lit Hub Radio.
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1:14.9	of transcendentalism.
1:17.1	In his early 30s, his essays and speeches made him a national figure.
1:21.4	The most gifted of Americans, Friedrich Nietzsche said, the author of America's intellectual declaration of independence,
1:30.5	said Oliver Wendell Holmes, senior, my master, said Walt Whitman.
1:37.1	Ralph Waldo Emerson was an ordained minister in the Unitarian Church and a champion of
1:42.7	individuality and freedom and the possibility of human
1:46.8	achievement. I have taught one doctrine, he said, the infinitude of the private man. Henry David Thoreau
1:55.5	was a friend and protege. Thoreau, who famously went to prison for refusing to pay his taxes, I cannot for an
	...

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