| Title | : | A Fugitive in Walden Woods (The American Novels) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1942658222 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781942658221 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2017 |
Against this historical backdrop, Norman Lock’s powerful narrative examines issues that continue to divide the United States: racism, privilege, and what it means to be free in America.
A Fugitive in Walden Woods (The American Novels) Reviews
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Lock’s American Novels series engages creatively with 19th-century literary classics. In this fourth book, a runaway slave encounters Henry David Thoreau and his circle and ponders the meaning of physical and ideological freedom. Samuel Long has been a fugitive for a year when his Underground Railroad journey ends in Concord, Mass. Lock skillfully weaves in Concord’s transcendentalist milieu through the philosophical debates Long observes or participates in. The novel evokes New England’s seasons through vivid scenes of harvesting ice on Walden Pond, picnicking riverside, and camping en route to Maine. Long’s folksy metaphors feel just right. This is an unusual window onto what seems like familiar history, and a fitting homage to Thoreau.
See my full review at
Foreword. -
The latest installment in the author's American Novels Series, A FUGITIVE IN WALDEN WOODS looks at Henry David Thoreau's time at Walden Pond from a novel lens. Norman Lock introduces the reader to a character named Samuel Long, an escaped slave from a plantation in Virginia, who has been given refuge in a shack in the woods nearby to Thoreau's cabin. It is from Long's point of view that we experience New England as it was in the mid-nineteenth century.
Arriving in Concord, MA through the network of the Underground Railroad, Samuel is welcomed into the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his wife, and later introduced to his contemporaries. These are essentially a who's who of the Transcendentalism Club - Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and many others. Samuel spends some time with each of them, and comments on his impressions of them as individuals and abolitionists. He also encounters tradespeople, such as the ice harvesters who undertake the dangerous task of collecting the frozen layer of Walden Pond for its eventual use as ice cubes. All the while, he and Thoreau talk about themes that would later make their way into his book WALDEN - neighbors, house construction, visitors, wildlife, the pond itself. As Thoreau is philosophizing, he uses Samuel as a kind of sounding board, and gradually Samuel gains the confidence to talk to this man, even challenging his points when the fugitive slave experience differs from that of his companion. Thoreau's meandering philosophy is in contrast to his lived experience of bondage and unimaginable suffering. This is a constant and recurring theme, and something that Samuel struggles with when interacting with just about every white person he meets. He recognizes and acknowledges their socioeconomic privilege and freedom of movement in comparison to his fragile status and complete and utter dependency.
As Samuel gets acquainted with Thoreau, so does the reader. He describes him as a dreamer, someone who bristles against social convention and expectation. He desires to understand the meaning of life, and partakes in experiments to understand what "living" means. Some of the events and dialogue are factually based, and others are fiction invented by the author but ringing as true. This is also the case with the other Transcendentalists. The audience learns of these men and women through Samuel's eyes, with his preconceptions and assumptions as well as his great capacity for learning and understanding. One thing that this book does brilliantly is portray these individuals as interesting and flawed individuals, from the perspective of one who has never encountered men like them before.
When Samuel accompanies Nathaniel Hawthorne to Boston via train, he meets with William Lloyd Garrison. A prominent abolitionist, he is the publisher of an anti-slavery magazine "The Liberator". At his office, Samuel tells his story of escaping from the plantation where he had toiled, how he severed his own hand to be able to flee his manacle, the circumstances under which he joined the Underground Railroad, and was eventually delivered to the Emerson home. His story is published, and leads to some interesting consequences.
Prior to this meeting, Samuel struggled with whether or not to participate in the abolition movement, and what role he might play. Would he be paraded around as an oddity - the negro who is an accomplished orator? He would rather live a quiet life, a decision that puts him in conflict with another escaped slave who was determined to return to the South and take up violent action against the institution of slavery. He eventually decides to participate in some consciousness-raising meetings and talk about his experiences. It's important to note that he decides never to show the audiences his welt-covered back, believing that people are willing to engage with slavery as an intellectual concept, but not as a concrete reality.
Norman Lock's A FUGITIVE IN WALDEN WOODS is a beautifully written, with heartbreaking tenderness and brutal savagery. You are well and truly transported to the Walden Pond with Thoreau, to Concord with Emerson, and Boston with Hawthorne. The author speaks to the differences between philosophy and lived experience, the horrors of slavery, and their long-lasting effects on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Not a re-telling of WALDEN, but more of an engagement with it, this period in history is given a new perspective that speaks as clearly to that time as it does to ours. -
Norman Lock is no stranger to historical fiction and A Fugitive in Walden Woods is, in fact, his fourth in what the author calls his “The American Novels” series. The first three books in the series are: The Boy in His Winter (based upon Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn); American Meteor (an “homage” to Walt Whitman and William Henry Jackson); and The Port-Wine Stain (the author’s tribute to Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Dent Mütter). Lock uses each of the books in the series to remind the reader that the greats of the past he writes about were human beings just like the rest of us, people who struggled with their own weaknesses and circumstances just as mightily as we all do in this more modern world. Doing so reminds readers just how special were the accomplishments of Lock’s central characters, and will likely lead to a renewed and even greater appreciation of their work and lives.
A Fugitive in Walden Woods features a handful of American transcendentalists in the mid-1840s, men like Henry David Thoreau, Nathanial Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William Lloyd Garrison. Among these greats of their time, the author inserts a runaway slave from the South, one Samuel Long, a man so desperate for freedom that he is willing to chop off his own hand rather than to remain shackled to the fence post to which he is bound. Lucky enough to stumble into the hands of the Underground Railroad, Long eventually lands in Massachusetts where he is placed into the care and protection of Emerson.
With Emerson’s help, Samuel Long is installed in a shack in Walden Woods, a relatively remote location that Emerson and his friends hope will keep Long safe from the “man-hunters” who have made a brutal art of returning runaways to their owners in the slave states. As luck would have it, Long’s nearest neighbor is none other than Henry David Thoreau who is living alone in Walden Woods as he prepares the journal that will soon enough become Walden, Thoreau’s much-studied classic account of that experience.
A Fugitive in Walden Woods primarily focuses on the relationship between Long and Thoreau. Understandably, Long is slow to trust the motives and hidden thoughts of white men, but almost despite himself, the slave develops an admiration for the almost innocent honesty with which Thoreau expresses himself and presents himself to those he encounters along the way. Thoreau, on his part, admires the strength and courage he sees in Samuel Long and treats the man as his equal, nothing more and nothing less. As the relationship between the two men develops over the months, Thoreau’s time in Walden Woods comes to life for the reader just as Samuel Long himself comes-of-age in his own new world.
The real beauty of books like A Fugitive in Walden Woods can be best expressed in a quote Samuel Long recalls in conversation with Emerson or Hawthorne – he is not entirely sure which it actually was: “Reading is our recompense for having only one life to live.” Norman Lock has given his readers the chance to live a different life than the one they know best. -
Imagine wanting freedom so badly you would chop off your shackled hand to escape slavery. That is what Samuel Long did and as Norman Lock tells it, Samuel’s travels via the Underground Railroad bring him to Concord, Massachusetts. There Ralph Waldo Emerson sets Samuel up in a cabin very near Henry David Thoreau’s small house in the Walden woods. Emerson is concerned about the state of Thoreau’s health, for he is known to have consumption. And so Samuel Long becomes a helpmate, fishing partner and confidante to Thoreau.
This being a historical novel, I had to ask myself if Samuel Long was real. Since Thoreau was known to be an abolitionist, it would not be a stretch to imagine him hanging out with a fugitive slave. The answer is negatory, but I fell for the ruse. I was all in -- captivated by the whole setup, one where readers are asked to believe that Samuel starts writing a recollection of the time period (July, 1845 – September 1846) he spent with Thoreau not long after Thoreau dies in 1862. The wonderful thing is, we can tell by Samuel’s fine narrative style that he has become educated. He has thought long and hard about his association with Thoreau and his fellow Transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
You could not ask for more of a contrast than the one Long creates, where an escaped slave is thrown into the company of such erudite, high-minded, liberal thinkers. Samuel often feels unsure of himself around them, “stewed to a pulp” by the inferno of slavery. Though grateful for Emerson’s help, Samuel grows sick of being a curiosity and is lonely amongst Concord society.
Quoting Amos Bronson Alcott, Samuel tells us that, indeed, Thoreau could “talk the ears off a field of corn.” Samuel observes that Thoreau “had peeled the veneer of civilization like bark from a stick.” Changeable as the wind, in many ways Thoreau was an enigma to Samuel. “There were as many Henries as there were people who held opinions of him.” Samuel lets us know that he can only write about “my Henry.” And Samuel confesses that he loved Hawthorne more than Thoreau, for in Hawthorne Samuel found a fellow melancholic, one whose “gentle eyes were often sad.”
Looking back, Samuel ultimately admires Thoreau for his breadth of thought and nonconformity. I felt immensely rewarded by Samuel’s ability to speak his truth, not only about the company he kept, but also by his brave retelling of his escape from slavery and what it felt like to be dropped into White society. Alas, one bugaboo I had about the book comes towards the very end, when a dramatic incident concerning Samuel’s runaway status left me reeling in shock. Involving both Samuel and Thoreau, it defies credulity, at least for me… No spoilers here, but let it be said that the final chapter makes any discussion of the book all the juicier.
A Fugitive in the Walden Woods is one of four in Lock’s highly imaginative American Novels series. Other famous Americans he has conjured in the series include Huck Finn, Walt Whitman, General George Custer and Edgar Allan Poe. Feeling, as I did, that I had stepped into the 1840s reading Lock’s take on Thoreau and an imaginary freedman, I bet I would also enjoy traveling back in time via the others in this distinguished series.
This review also appears on the LitLovers website:
http://www.litlovers.com/reviews/2017... -
This short novel is a sort of biography of Henry David Thoreau. Yet it’s told through the lens of a fictional runaway slave, the fugitive, Samuel Long. To escape he had to chop off his hand from his manacles, then made his way north settling in Concord for the duration of the book. Ralph Waldo Emerson gave Samuel a shack on his property to live in, and pays him to look after Thoreau and do odds and ends type jobs.
Weaved in this story are the philosophies and thoughts of the many transcendentalists and writers that were around Concord. We also get Samuel’s story as he relates it to William Lloyd Garrison for his newspaper The Liberator.
There is a lot of fact and history within these pages, but undoubtedly a lot of fiction as well. There isn’t really a plot, or anything moving the story forward except for time and events that follow one after another.
I enjoyed the book, as I did with the other two books of Lock’s American novels series I’ve read. -
I enjoyed this story to a point - it seemed to be more "wordy" than it needed to be - the characters were true to form & interesting to understand -
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In Norman Lock's novel, A Fugitive in Walden Woods, Samuel Long is in danger. He has escaped from his "master" and has ridden the Underground Railroad all the way to Massachusetts, where he becomes the preferred company of men like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Lock's novel attempts to wrestle with the ideas of transcendentalism, "human dignity", "racism, privilege, and what it means to be free in America." And it mostly succeeds.
Lock's narrative borrows generously from the slave narrative tradition, employing themes such as confinement with the intention of gaining freedom (see Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs). However, the story is told not with the intentions of disclosing Samuel's journey, but rather with the intentions of disclosing the nature of Henry Thoreau, a man who Samuel considers to be a good friend. This provides an interesting angle and allows for the discussion of transcendental ideas but often overshadows the gravity and severity of Samuel's suffering. I wondered a lot while reading about the intentions and sincerity of the author because of this, putting the life of a white man in focus rather than the black man's. Everything is mediated through Samuel's voice, though, so maybe my concerns aren't valid.
There were several poignant moments in the book, but I'm unsure about the meaning of their sum. The novel did not follow conventional narrative structure, seeing as there was an absence of rising action, and the climax and resolution occurred in the last five pages. I'm not sure why the end of the novel was written the way it was, with an italicized "I originally thought I'd stop here" section and a disclaimer from "Walt Whitman." Perhaps it was to set off the conclusion as significant, but, with me, it fell flat.
Overall a decent read, but not my favorite. Perhaps it's that I don't really enjoy fictional extrapolation of real life people. Regardless, I'm grateful to LibraryThing and to Bellevue Press for allowing me to take part in this review. -
Full review here:
http://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/r...
When asked for his motto in a 2016 interview, Norman Lock answered: “One must write as if a book really could change the world.” It’s no wonder, then, that he’s attracted to American writers of the nineteenth century—notables like Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman. After all, they wrote books that really did change the world.
Lock’s new novel, A Fugitive in Walden Woods, is the fourth in a loose series grappling with those early American literati who can, in some ways, be credited with inventing the nation’s idea of itself: Twain’s sophisticated folksiness became the quintessential American voice, Poe’s gothic tales mined the dark veins of our national psyche, and Whitman’s exuberant poetry tried to give us our own Homeric epic.
In A Fugitive in Walden Woods, Lock turns his gaze to the New England trio of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who framed America’s troubled, contradictory relationship with nature and authority. Ventriloquizing historical figures is always tricky, but Lock does it with just the right mix of reverence, humanity, and skepticism. The story, unfolding across five seasons from 1845 to 1846, is rich with illuminating incidents and lovely meditative passages, bathing its subjects in a light that is more revealing than worshipful.
But the novel’s boldest (and most dangerous) choice is to present itself as a memoir by Samuel Long, an entirely fictional escaped slave who has fled to Massachusetts via the Underground Railroad. Writing nearly twenty years later in the early days of the Civil War, Samuel looks back on his time at Walden under Emerson’s patronage.
The rest of this review appears online at the Colorado Review:
http://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/r... -
I received an advance copy of A Fugitive in Walden Woods by Norman Lock in exchange for an unbiased review. I have been reading Walden Pond intermittently and I could really relate to Norman Lock’s book. It is written in the point of view of an escaped slave who takes refuge in Walden Woods under the protection of Hawthorne, Thoreau and Emerson. I really enjoyed this book. It was written in the language of the time, which made the story feel more realistic. The characters also felt very realistic, as if the author was indeed there during that time. The characters were not one-sided, and the emotions that the main character, Samuel described himself as having were enlightening. Samuel describes himself as not sure how to behave or “be” because his whole life up until then was as a slave. Samuel had so many conflicting emotions that I had never imagined until this story. I am now planning on reading other books by Norman Lock. I highly recommend this book, especially for those that enjoy historical fiction.
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Quotable:
“God is not angry!” he cried, his stoical upper lip showing teeth. He had sufficient Unitarianism in him to scorn fundamentalist Christian melodrama. “Hell is inside us: It is the pain we cause ourselves.”
I was accustomed to living as if I took up no more space or air than a dog does – less, for a dog in a southern household may be privileged.
Most of us must keep talking, afraid that, in the silence that rounds our lives, death will come like a shivaree, derisive and clamoring. But I sometimes longed to hear the foolishness of ordinary people.
“I never intended to patronize you, and if I have done, I apologize. It is difficult to know how to approach another human being.”
There is none so arrogant as a man with a righteous cause.
“Sunsets are common as dirt,” said Henry thoughtfully. I fear an aphorism was in the making, and, in the next instant, he delivered it: “But the most glorious emotions gow in them. Only baren hearts are unmoved by twilight.”
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” - Samuel Johnson, 1775 -
Excellent! The author blends history with fiction in the character of a slave, Samuel Long, newly escaped from a cruel master. With help, he arrives in Walden Woods and lives in a small cabin. His neighbors and friends, and benefactors, are Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through them he meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Lloyd Garrison, and other writers and philosophers of the 1800s.
Through Samuel's observations, we get to know Thoreau intimately, and he's a study in contrasts. This story is suberb. It addresses history of the time and blends some unlikely characters effortlessly with beautiful language and images. It brings these people to life. This is a literary work written with conciseness. You can read more detailed reviews here and elsewhere. I prefer to begin a book without knowing much about it.
I received this book from Library Thing as an ARC. I now want to read all of Norman Lock's writings, I so enjoyed this one. -
This is fourth novel in Lock’s series about America. It takes the form of a 1864 memoir by Samuel Long, a runaway slave who is taken in by Ralph Waldo Emerson, lives for a time in Walden Woods close to Thoreau and who meets Hawthorne and other luminaries during the 1840s. It is remarkable for the close attention Lock pays to the minute details of the pre-Civil War era. The imagined conversations ring with authenticity, as does an excerpt from Long’s slave narrative as told to William Lloyd Garrison. Lock does a marvelous job recreating the intellectual world of the Concord Transcendentalists and Abolutionists.
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This book made me think about human dignity during pivotal moments, those times when a person is caught off guard and must make a sudden moral choice and how that shift/decision/impulse can make a big difference. It made me think about what it means to be able (and willing) to see other people, really see them, for who they are and for who they can be. Book clubs might discuss the human craving for dignity and freedom, the enrichment of the mind and how to go about it, and the conflict and connection between lofty thoughts and practical considerations. (Also, friendship, newness v. normalcy, and the importance of kindnesses, big and small.)
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A fiction story featuring Thoreau, Emerson, and Hawthorne, but told from a perspective of Samuel Lock, an escaped slave living next to the Walden Pond. It's a story of racism, privilege, and the meaning of freedom. Written by a white writer, which could be problematic, but with an apparent attempt at nuance in describing a relationship between a traumatized, introspective black man and a well-meaning, if sometimes unaware, nature writer.
Must readalike: "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau.
Readable, sympathetic, philosophical, powerful, uncomfortable, historical, best read outside. -
A fugitive in Walden Woods by Lock_ Norman
Really enjoyed this book about the Negro who wanders onto Walden woods and especially like the disucssions of th gardening.
Love how he helps others who in turn are famous and they help him also. Love hearing of the area, locale, nature all around as we've been there before.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). -
A runaway slave makes his way through the underground railroad to Concord, Massachusetts, where he comes to know Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and William Lloyd Garrison.
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At times, it seemed a little forced/awkward, but still worth a read.
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I got about 3/4 through before calling it quits. It was just pretentious and boring. Quite a disappointment.
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Review TK.
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Ce livre est bizarre. Ce n’est pas l’histoire d’un esclave, ce n’est pas une biographie de Thoreau mais un peu tout cela et finalement rien vraiment.
Bof! -
trop décousu, on s'y perd et on n'en tire pas grand chose. c'est dommage parce que cela semblait prometteur.
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A Fugitive in Walden Woods is a very unique and interesting book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I absolutely love how the author has incorporated some of the classic authors(Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, etc) lives into this book. I found myself checking historical accuracy and most of the stories told actually did happen in their lives. It is so fascinating to have learned so much in this book. I highly recommend this book because it tells a very good story of Sam Long's internal and external struggles with slavery and freedom and incorporates this with his interactions with Thoreau, Emerson, etc
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