...namely, believe his own thought, express his own life, be not only "Man Thinking " but Man Acting. "Your goodness must have some edge to it else it is none . . . Do your work and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself . . . Every...

...variously as Spontaneity, Instinct, and Whim. Describing his own creative method, Emerson proudly declares: "I shun father and mother and wife and brother when...me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim."34 Alcott situates her protagonist within this discourse of creative individualism by introducing...

...genius"; "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist"; "Your goodness must have some edge to it—else it is none. The doctrine of hatred must be preached...the counteraction of the doctrine of love when that pulses and whines. I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me. I would...

...the future as "steps, but without a path" (1995: 8). Elsewhere he invokes a passage from Emerson: "l shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. l would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. l hope it is somewhat better than whim at last,...

...only to itself, above all compromise, beyond all cooperation. This is the Emerson who calls on us to "shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me," who insists that "When the good is near you . . . you shall not discern the footprints of any other;...

...cannot be driven or will not go. Compare Emerson's comment in "SelfReliance" on indiscriminate charity: "Your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none"; Collected Works, 2: 30. 12. Thoreau likewise admired Higginson, but each was at first inclined to think...

...understanding the character of John Wayne's romantic heroes, including the rough, hard side of those heroes: "Your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none. The doctrine of hatred must he preached, as the counteraction of the doctrine of love, when that pules and whines. "24How Laurentian!...

...altogether to make such a remark to a settled congregation that he would have to meet week after week. "I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me," he might tell an audience in Indiana. Next week he would be in Michigan, and would never know whether...

...but has unscrambled them (pp. 122-3). my brothers: see Matt. 12: 47—50. See also Emerson's SR, 30: 'I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me.' bury his father: Matt. 8: 21—2. is wrong: Emerson in SR: 'Imitation is suicide' (27) ; 'Insist on...

...no longer have real meaning for you in our crisis culture,"2 These were not, of course, new ideas. "I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson before the Civil War. Nietzsche made a career out of the same thought in...