Representative Men: Seven Lectures

About the book

Beginning with an inquiry into the uses of great men, Emerson turns to Plato, Swedenborg, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and Goethe. Each figure represents a different mode of power or perception: philosophy, mysticism, skepticism, poetry, worldly action, and writing. These lectures are interpretive portraits rather than full biographies, selecting features that allow Emerson to explore the possibilities and limits of a particular kind of achievement. Admiration does not require accepting every claim or following any one figure without question. The reader is encouraged to consider what exceptional people reveal about capacities shared more widely. Across its varied subjects, the collection balances the attraction of commanding personalities with Emerson's resistance to surrendering one's own judgment to them.

• Genius and influence
• Intellectual independence
• Human possibility

Why read it

Read it for vivid philosophical portraits that turn admiration into a question about your own powers of thought.

English text