Book Review: Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives

Princeton University Press

"All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind," wrote the deceased poet David Berman for his band Purple Mountains. The line is painfully direct and true. I've been turning the lyric over like a smooth stone in my palm lately, having experienced the recent deaths of friends and loved ones. Most of us have endured the deepest sorrow in losing someone close, knowing the heavy chains of grief. A father's or friend's demise suffocates us with what Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to as "the heaviness of the fact of death."

This final book by Robert D. Richardson explores the most significant losses of the aforementioned Emerson, his friend Henry David Thoreau, and their protege William James. Having written separate biographies on each of these men, Richardson was well-versed with their letters and essays. He flipped through them like a worn, often shuffled deck of cards for this publication. His style of "documentary biography" works exceptionally well. He lets these seminal thinkers speak for themselves. Richardson simply threads their excerpts together like beads on strong sinew.

Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson handled the death from consumption of his first wife Ellen as if he were a phoenix emerging from her ashes. He left his ministries within the Unitarian church to travel throughout Europe, being reborn within museums and universities. Emerson came back with new, stronger convictions. He suggested resilience was an effective way to repair decay. He dove into his new writings, regenerated in nature rather than religion. Years later, he approached the death of his son Waldo differently, with profound comprehension.

Naturalist Henry David Thoreau's brother John died in his arms, painfully, from tetanus. Not only did Thoreau abruptly stop journaling, he also became sympathetically ill. When he finally resumed writing, the words spoke of isolation and detachment. As he emerged from his grief, his observations began to focus on the cycles within nature. Thoreau even went as far to state that death is beautiful when seen as a law, not an accident. Less likely to cling to memories, he eventually found joy again.

Philosopher and psychologist William James approached the grief he experienced over his young cousin Minnie with what would become the seeds of pragmatism and functionalism. Through a choice of actions and thoughts, James would rebuild himself. He believed the necessary resources of comfort were found within the individual.

This book shows how death guided Emerson, Thoreau, and James toward their most important works. The reader witnesses a birth of transcendental resilience and clear focus on individualism. These men moved forward from devastation to find growth and success — Richardson's heady work is easily digested with an invigorating pace. It rekindled a desire to revisit the works of each of these men.

Princeton University Press // 128 pages // Literary Criticism, Biography, History