Introduction. A Note on Documentation. I. BACKGROUNDS Perry Miller, "From Edwards to Emerson" . William Hedges, "From Franklin to Emerson" . Lawrence Buell, "Emerson in His Cultural Context" . II. SELF AND SOCIETY Stephen Whicher, "The Dream of Greatness" .

Mary Kupiec Cayton, "The Making of an American Prophet: Emerson, His Audiences, and the Rise of the Culture Industry in Nineteenth- Century America" . Sacvan Bercovitch, "Emerson, Individualism, and the Ambiguities of Dissent" . III. THE LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT Richard Porier, "Is There and I for an Eye?" . Jonathan Bishop, "Tone" . Harold Bloom, "Emerson: Power at the Crossing" . Julie Ellision, "Aggressive Allegory" . Glen Johnson, "Emerson and the Craft of Revision: The Composition of Essays (1841)".

IV. TEACHING THINKING Stanley Cavell, "Thinking of Emerson" . Merton M. Sealts, Jr., "Emerson as Teacher" . Further Reading. Notes on the Contributors. Chronology of Important Dates.