Caroline Rosenthal

Thoreau’s ideas and works have received renewed interest in our time. Diverse – and often divergent – contemporary movements and contexts, both academic and popular, invoke Thoreau as role model and icon.

Ecocriticism, the occupy movement, and the blossoming practice of mindfulness alike claim Thoreau as their forerunner and his works as inspiration. Thoreauvian ideas loom large in contemporary films (Into the Wild), TV-series (The Simpsons), comics (Das reine Leben) and popular music (Nightwish “My Walden”). This talk seeks to illustrate why Thoreau has such an overwhelming influence on the popular culture of our time. It will highlight his main ideas and the reasons why he has turned into a cultural icon.

Caroline Rosenthal is Professor of American Literature at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Constance in 2001 where she also completed her postgraduate work in 2009. Her main areas of research are Comparative North American Studies; Canadian literature, literary theory, and culture; contemporary city fiction and spatial theory; and American Romanticism.

Language: English.

In cooperation with Anglistisches Seminar, Heidelberg University.