About FDU Press

Dolis (Pennsylvania State Univ., Scranton, and author of The Style of Hawthorne’s Gaze: Regarding Subjectivity, 1993) examines Thoreau’s establishment of a subject position using language, one that marks the border (or crossroads) of culture and matter, of human and nature, of self and other. Following Heidegger, Dolis recuperates the term “technology,” noting its root, techne (bringing for the) and arguing that through linguistic technique/style Thoreau (re-)produces the literary remains that become “Thoreau.” Writing in a style that is playful but somewhat excessive, Dolis focuses on Walden and follows its overall organization; but in making his argument, he draws on Thoreau’s entire oeuvre (though giving less emphasis to Thoreau’s later, more scientific writing) and offers his thesis as relevant to that body of work (including the journals).