Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau

Branka Arsic shows that Thoreau developed a theory of vitalism in response to his brother's death.

Through grieving, he came to see life as a generative force into which everything dissolves and reemerges.

This reinterpretation, based on sources overlooked by critics, explains many of Thoreau's more idiosyncratic habits and obsessions.