There was a quote from Lyndall Gordon’s Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds, describing the poems. I wasn’t able to fit it into my review of the book. A Dickinson poem can open out into any number of dramas to fill its compelling spaces. As a woman unmodified by mating, a stranger to her time, speaking for those who are not … Continue reading Don’t Forget the Poems
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson: A Novel is Jerome Charyn’s love letter to the poet. He admits as much in his author’s note. His attachment is not unusual. Others have attempted first person, fictionalized accounts of Dickinson’s life. What is astonishing is the skill with which he assumes the voice of the poet, completely capturing the ferocity of her attachments and the violence in … Continue reading Blog Tour: The Secret ‘Inner’ Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn
At the height of the feud between his wife, sister Lavinia and his mistress, Austin Dickinson writes “This may all seem very queer to you, and it is. We are a queer lot.” This wasn’t merely a figure of speech. The Dickinson family was indeed “a queer lot”. Thomas Wentworth Higginson referred to Emily, in particular, as “my partially cracked poetess in Amherst”. These three … Continue reading “We are a queer lot.”
It’s snowing in the Northeast. Again. Perfect reading weather. Per fect non-fiction reading weather. At the moment I’m working my way through Lyndall Gordon’s Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson & Her Family’s Feuds. It’s a shocking read! I’ve learned from Gordon that the real Emily Dickinson (there’s no nice way to put this) was creepy. And not in a cool, zombie kinda’ way. … Continue reading Emily Dickinson & Stephen Cobert – What Do They Have In Common? Absolutely Nothing!
The holidays are over and I thought it might be fun to do some bookshelf Show & Tell. Here’s a list of what I found at the bottom of my stocking (in no particular order): In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World It Made by Norman F. Cantor The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire & Germany’s Bid for World Power … Continue reading Bookshelf Show & Tell: The Holiday Edition
READER AT LARGE 