Walden Pond - Paperback

by Patty Nash (Author)

A lyrical exploration of identity and place in the modern world.

In Walden Pond, Patty Nash probes and plays with the first-person pronoun, investigating the construction of national identities and the way nations construct the identities of individuals in turn. From the medieval merchant town of Lübeck to the high desert of central Oregon, the Adriatic Sea to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nash explores and interrogates the historical forces that shape her -- and our -- "I".

This collection of poetry and prose is for readers interested in contemporary literature, cultural criticism, and personal essays. Nash responds to Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden (1854), who declared, "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well." Nash responds: "Content am I."

Author Biography

Patty Nash's work has appeared in The Paris Review, Sixth Finch, West Branch, DIAGRAM and elsewhere. She received MFAs in poetry and literary translation from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of Iowa. She lives in Berlin, Germany.