Emerson’s Brother: A Novel
Few people know that Ralph Waldo Emerson had a mentally challenged brother. Now, in a deeply moving novel in letters, noted writer Philip Lee Williams imagines the last year of this brother's sad but transcendent life as he lives with a farm family in Massachusetts. Emerson's Brother shows how this brother, Bulkeley, deals in his own way with many of the themes Waldo did, including nature, self-reliance, and love.
Writing letters to his brother and friends such as Henry David Thoreau, Bulkeley Emerson aches with the need to express himself, trapped as he is in the prison of his own genetics. Though Bulkeley's journey toward the end of his life can be agonizing and filled with unfilled longing, there is a quiet acceptance, too, as he nears his time to become part of nature itself.
Reviews
Review by: Joel Myerson, Carolina Distinguished Professor of American Literature, Emeritus, University of South Carolina and co-author of The Emerson Brothers: A Fraternal Biography in Letters - September 30, 2011
This fascinating novel about the least-known Emerson brother brings to life the Transcendental currents of the time and shows how hard it was, for all the Emersons, to live up to the expectations of their forefathers. Fans of Henry Thoreau and Waldo Emerson, as well as anyone with a brother, will find this novel an emotional recreation of an important period and place in our history.