"The Absurd in Thoreau's Walden": Four versions of Article, circa  1971

SCOPE The papers of Harold F. Mosher date from 1959 and primarily document his scholarly research, and the resulting publications and papers delivered during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  Also included is a small amount of material relating to his teaching career, and his work as Editor of Style.  Some of the correspondence in this collection is in French. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Harold F. “Pat” Mosher was born on August 20, 1930.  He received his B.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1952, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1966.  He served in the military from 1952 until 1956.  In 1956 he began his teaching career in Dallas, Texas where he taught French and English at St. Mark’s School, and also was a lecturer in French at Southern Methodist University.  In 1961 Mosher became an Instructor of English at the University of Cincinnati, where he was promoted to Assistant Professor of English in 1966. Mosher spent 1968-1969 as Fulbright-Hays Visiting Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Toulouse, France.  1969-1971 found him as Maitre de conferences (Associate Professor of English) at the University of Nice, France.  During the Fall 1970 semester Mosher came to DeKalb as Visiting Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University, and after returning from France in 1971 he came back to Northern as Associate Professor of English.  He remained at Northern until his retirement in 1992. Mosher belonged to several professional organizations including the MLA  (Modern Language Association) and the MMLA (Midwest Modern Language Association). He has published a number of articles, abstracts, and professional reviews in such journals as Critical Texts, Poetics Today, Papers on Language and Literatures, Journal of Literary Semantics, Language and Style, Centrum, and the Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual.  In addition he contributed to several books including co-editor of ReJoycing: New Readings of Dubliners (1998),co-editor of American Literature: An Anthology (2 vols., published in France, 1973-1974), and contributor to volumes 1 and 2 of Joseph Conrad: An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Him (1971, and 1990).  Mosher became editor of Style in 1983 and retained that position until 1995 when he was named Editor Emeritus of that publication.  He is married to Nicole, who also taught briefly at Northern, and they are the parents of three daughters Jessica, Patricia and Nathalie.  Dr. Mosher retired to Durango, Colorado.