Self-Reliance that would become "Self-Reliance" was presented by Ralph Waldo Emerson as part of a sermon in September 1830 a month after his first marriage. His wife Ellen was sick with tuberculosis and, as Emerson's biographer Robert D. Richardson wrote, "Immortality had never been stronger or more desperately needed!" From 1836 into 1837, Emerson presented a series of lectures on the philosophy of history at Boston's Masonic Temple. These lectures were never published separately, but many of his thoughts in these were later used in "Self-Reliance" and several other essays. Later lectures by Emerson led to public censure of his radical
Essays in London and Elsewhere shines through this book's essays on Ibsen and Loti. He brings to each a deep appreciation of their outlook on life and their harsh but effective techniques for presenting it. James is never afraid to point out what he considers faults or omissions in the writers he discusses. But his criticism is never captious, never a wish that a writer was somebody he is not. The essay on Ibsen has biographical relevance and even poignance for James, who would experience a very public failure in the theater just a few years after this book was published. The respect James pays