A new book about author Henry David Thoreau brings together scholars from across the globe who address some of the implications of his explorations of the nature of time, showing how sustained attention to a writer from our not-so-distant past can help us reimagine our future.

Dr. Kathryn C. Dolan, professor of English and technical communication at Missouri S&T, recently co-edited the new book Henry David Thoreau and the Nick of Time: Temporality and Agency in Thoreau’s Era and Ours. She also co-authored the introduction and contributed an essay to the collection.

Dolan’s co-editors are John J. Kucich and Henrik Otterberg. The book is published by Mercer University Press.

“Henry David Thoreau and the Nick of Time was my first experience editing a book collection,” says Dolan. “My co-editors, John and Henrik, were wonderful to work with. We collaborated very well together, and they both taught me valuable lessons on collaborative writing and editing projects.

“For example, they modeled to me how to give appropriate and useful feedback to bring the best out of our wonderful contributors,” explains Dolan. “We co-wrote the collection’s introduction together, as well.”

Dolan’s chapter in the book is based on a remediation assignment she often gives to students in her seminar classes. In the exercise, students pick a reading assignment from the course and choose a different form of media to turn it into, then write an essay in which they analyze the process.

“I’ve had amazing experiences with these projects – students have created paintings and drawings, 3D crafts and models, audio/video projects, and baked goods, among other things,” says Dolan. “In my chapter, I focused on three Thoreau-themed projects: the charcoal sketch, a 3D-printed model and baked bread.”

Dolan says that she has been interested in Thoreau’s writing since high school and was a scholar of American literature long before she became an English major in college or earned her Ph.D.

“I’ve long been interested in how our stories establish and comment on our culture, and how our earlier works engaged with many of the same themes we continue to address,” says Dolan. “I’ve written on food and agriculture in Thoreau’s work in my earlier monographs, Beyond the Fruited Plain and Cattle Country, as well as in edited collections and journal articles. To me, writing a chapter in this collection, a chapter that included a baking project, was both a new experience as well as a return to my strengths as a scholar of American literature and food studies.”

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to The Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.