I just think it's interesting to keep in mind what used to pass for appropriate recreational reading for kids back in the allegedly good old days. Habegger offers up plenty of documentation -- stories such as these, lists of books and authors Dickinson read and admired (if you have a picture of Elizabeth Barrett Browning hanging in your room, it's safe to say you're a fan), and lots of letters and news articles and, of course, poetry.This book is probably the best guide to learning as much about Dickinson as it's possible to know from the outside.Although many aspects of her life and work will always elude scrutiny, her living, changing profile at least comes into focus in this meticulous and magisterial biography. I'd have given this 2 stars were it not solely for the massive amount of research and collecting of letters, dates, history, etc. However, Emily Dickinson remains just as an elusive figure as before this (or any other attempt at her biography) was written.
In this exhaustively researched biography, Alfred Habegger presents the first thorough account of Dickinson's growth-a Emily Dickinson, probably the most loved and certainly the greatest of American poets, continues to be seen as the most elusive.
In this exhaustively researched biography, Alfred Habegger presents the first thorough account of Dickinson's growth-a richly contextualized story of genius in the process of formation and then in the act of overwhelming production.
It is fair to say that Dickinson is a tough cookie for any biographer, so credit is due where credit is due; but there’s nothing in this volume that adds to enjoyment of Dickinson as a writer and thinker or that fleshes her out into a real human being with three full dimensions.
(I begin to fear that such a task will remain forever impossible.) But what is laid away more than anything in this biography is the Dickinson of joy and delight.
Habegger also illuminates many of the essential connection sin Dickinson's story: between the decay of doctrinal Protestantism and the emergence of her riddling lyric vision; between her father's political isolation after the Whig Party's collapse and her private poetic vocation; between her frustrated quest for human intimacy and the tuning of her uniquely seductive voice.
The definitive treatment of Dickinson's life and times, and of her poetic development, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books shows how she could be both a woman of her era and a timeless creator.I'd have given this 2 stars were it not solely for the massive amount of research and collecting of letters, dates, history, etc. However, Emily Dickinson remains just as an elusive figure as before this (or any other attempt at her biography) was written. At some point biographers (and scholars/academics) have GOT to get together and realize that there is just not enough material to write a decent biography of Dickinson! Habegger writes an exhaustive biography of everyone ELSE in Dickinson's life and tries to connect that to her, but even he frequently admits that "we just don't know" what she was thinking or even DOING most of the time.In the introduction, a literary critic addressed the fact that sometimes a poet's works were written for personal reasons and were never meant for others' eyes at all. As though I'm reading someone's diary without their permission. The feelings she, obviously, harbored deeply but which were known to few. Knowing what everyone else around me is doing isn't going to tell you a wh This book is maddening.The reader is still left looking wistfully at the firmly closed door of Emily Dickinson's elusive mind and heart and genius.But no biographer can unlock that chamber, and Habegger is wise enough not to try.Emily Dickinson, probably the most loved and certainly the greatest of American poets, continues to be seen as the most elusive.One reason she has become a timeless icon of mystery for many readers is that her developmental phases have not been clarified.Hers is a beautiful book, and I intend to finish it; but although it gives valuable context to Dickinson's life, I felt a certain lack in the nuts-and-bolts department. Hers is a beautiful book, and I intend to finish it; but although it gives valuable context to Dickinson's life, I felt a certain lack in the nuts-and-bolts department. In August the future poet probably read an excruciating true-life narrative, "The Lost Finger," in which twelve-year-old Elizabeth sticks an index finger into a hole in a "revolving card" at a factory and has the flesh torn away up to the first joint, leaving "about an inch of the clean, white, naked bone." "O!" adds the narrator, "the nerves of that very finger of my own, twitch and tremble as I write it."I know people worry these days about the violence children are exposed to in video games and the news, and I think they're right to be concerned.The short review: If you're going to read a biography of Dickinson, this one is probably your best bet. We ma The short review: If you're going to read a biography of Dickinson, this one is probably your best bet. We may not be able to know how she felt about the terrifying stories in the Sabbath School Visiter [sic], but I was thrilled to know this children's magazine existed and had been read by the poet in her childhood.The dirty details: I sought this out when I was about 250 pages into Cynthia Griffin Wolff's biography of Dickinson. The dirty details: I sought this out when I was about 250 pages into Cynthia Griffin Wolff's biography of Dickinson. (Her uncle was the editor and gave Emily and her younger sister Lavinia a subscription.) I was able to find copies online and read some of the actual text for myself, but Habegger offers some extremely representative summaries: March brought "An Infant Missionary's Dying Gift," which told of Frederick Dewey and how he fell into a barrel of boiling water at the age of three and then gave the missionaries all he had, sixty cents, before expiring.
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