Walden + Woodstock: The American Lives of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bob Dylan

Emerson and Dylan are cultural icons. Emerson has been called “Mr. America” and Dylan has just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Both had boundless energy for public performance and self-representation; both actively supported turning points in the civil rights struggle; both raged against American military aggression; both were at the epicenter of a wide circle of intellectuals, while denying their own centrality. What is the celebrity intellectual’s responsibility to society while remaining true to oneself? Poems, essays, autobiographies, songs, and movies provide insight into these eternally fascinating geniuses and their times.