Emerson and Incarceration.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882; Authors; Solitude; Discipline; Prisons in literature; American literature

The article traces the views of author Ralph Waldo Emerson on solitude and discipline to the New Hampshire State Prison and to the problem of incarceration that preoccupied him and his culture during the 1830s and 1840s. Key issues discussed include connections between Emerson's writings and the discursive history of Anglo-American prison reform, as well as the issues' implications for American literature.