Despite his short life, the nineteenth century American author Henry David Thoreau has become an enduring symbol of not one, but two popular tropes. Through his much-loved book Walden, an account of his two years living in a hut he built by the side of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, Thoreau has become an emblem of a certain kind of rugged self-reliance. He’s a perennial hero to those wanting to stand apart from society and return to a simpler, less crowded and complicated life. Equally, by goin...
