ABOUT THIS BOOK

This book is a source of quick reference containing basic and up-to-date information on the poet's life, her art, the manuscripts, and the current state of Dickinson scholarship in general.

For ease of use, individual essays have been structured as follows:

Each essay provides a historical overview of the relevant issues under scrutiny.

The essays offer detailed discussions of important aspects pertaining of the fields in question.

Unlike encyclopedic entries, each of the several essays reflects the authors own perspective, presenting a distinct point of view, at times a controversial one.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

GUDRUN GRABHER is professor of American studies at the University of Innsbruck. Roland Hagenbüchle is professor emeritus of American studies at the Catholic University of Eichstätt. CRISTANNE MILLER is W. M. Keck Distinguished Service Professor of English at Pomona College. In addition to the editors, contributors include Martha Ackmann, Kerstin Behnke, Sharon Cameron, Paul Crumbley, Margaret Dickie, Jane Donahue Eberwein, Judith Farr, Margaret H. Freeman, Jonnie Guerra, Suzanne Juhasz, Marietta Messmer, Vivian R. Pollak, David Porter, Josef Raab, Agnieszka Salska, Richard Sewall, Martha Nell Smith, Gary Lee Stonum, and Robert Weisbuch.

REVIEWS

“The ever-expanding scope of critical studies on Emily Dickinson's poetry has long called for a volume that would serve as a source of quick and useful reference. . . . [This book] does not simply fill a void in scholarship but, in fact, is a seminal volume of essays written by critics who have proved their expertise and dedication. This explains the high quality of both the individual essays and the Handbook as a whole.”—Edina Szalay, Hungarian Journal of English American Studies

“There are no weak essays in this collection. . . . [T]he three editors of the Handbook deserve the warm thanks of the whole Dickinson community.”—Tim Morris, Legacy

“This book presents the most exhaustive and useful summary of Emily Dickinson scholarship in the 20th century—a series of short but amazingly comprehensive essays on almost every aspect of Dickinson studies, written especially for this volume by Dickinson's most formidable contemporary critics. Invaluable to the expert and novice alike, every page of this book is sheer pleasure, in a way comparable to few scholarly texts.”—Virginia Quarterly Review

“The best of recent Dickinson scholarship is gathered together in the multifaceted Emily Dickinson Handbook, a collection of essays that examine Dickinson's life, poetry, poetics, and social perspective.”—Booklist

“Satisfies a long-standing need in 19th-century U.S. literature studies, providing a ready reference guide with essential, up-to-date material about Dickinson's life and art, her manuscripts, and the present state of research. . . . Highly recommended.”—CHOICE

“A single authoritative source for information about Dickinson's historical, cultural, and biographical contexts, as well as the editing and transmission of her texts, their critical reception, and the most recent interpretive, pedagogical, and theoretical approaches within Dickinson scholarship. . . . This book has it all.”—Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors’ Preface

Introduction

The Continuing Presence of Emily Dickinson
Richard Sewall

Biography

Biographical Studies of Dickinson
Martha Ackman

Historical Context

Dickinson’s Local, Global, and Cosmic Perspectives
Jane Donahue Eberwein
Dickinson’s Literary Background
Gary Lee Stonum
Dickinson and the Visual Arts
Judith Farr
Dickinson’s Dialogic Voice
Paul Crumbley

The Manuscripts

Dickinson’s Manuscripts
Martha Nell Smith
Dickinson’s Fascicles
Sharon Cameron

The Letters

Dickinson’s Letters
Agnieszka Salska

Dickinson’s Poetics

Searching for Dickinson’s Themes
David Porter
Prisming Dickinson, or Gathering Paradise by Letting Go
Robert Weisbuch
Dickinson’s Lyrical Self
Gudrun Grabher
Dickinson’s Experiments in Language
Cristanne Miller
A Cognitive Approach to Dickinson’s Metaphors
Margret H. Freeman
The Metapoetic Element in Dickinson
Josef Raab

Reception and Influence

Dickinson’s Critical Reception
Marietta Messmer
American Women Poets Reading Dickinson: The Example of Helen Hunt Jackson
Vivian R. Pollak
Feminist Conceptions of Dickinson
Margret Dickie
Dickinson and Literary Theory
Ronald Hagenbüchle
Dickinson Adaptions in the Arts and the Theater
Jonnie Guerra
Dickinson’s Poetry in Translation: The Example of Paul Celan
Kerstin Behnke

New Directions in Dickinson Scholarship

Materiality and the Poet
Suzanne Juhasz

Works Cited

Notes on Contribution

General Index

Index of Poems