Dickinson's Fascicles : a Spectrum of Possibilities / Edited by Paul Crumbley and Eleanor Elson Heginbotham
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Dickinson’s Fascicles Dickinson’s Fascicles A Spectrum of Possibilities Edited by Paul Crumbley and Eleanor Elson Heginbotham THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBUS Copyright © 2014 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dickinson's fascicles : a spectrum of possibilities / edited by Paul Crumbley and Eleanor Elson Heginbotham. pages cm Summary: "In this volume, a number of senior and emerging Dickinson scholars raise their dispa- rate voices with a particular set of theoretical premises, each selecting specific fascicles for close in- spection. The result is the first practical, balanced, common ground for studying Dickinson's poetry in her own context"— Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1259-2 (hardback) — ISBN 0-8142-1259-X (cloth) — ISBN 978-0-8142-9363-8 (cd-rom) 1. Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886—Criticism, Textual. 2. Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886—Technique. 3. Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886—Manuscripts. I. Crumbley, Paul, 1952– editor of compilation. II. Heginbotham, Eleanor Elson, editor of compilation. PS1541.Z5D495 2014 811'.4—dc23 2013049757 Cover design by Janna Thompson-Chordas Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Garamond Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Nation- al Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii List of Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction “The Prism never held the Hues”: (Fr1664) 1 Chapter 1 Dickinson’s Fascicles Sharon Cameron 12 Chapter 2 The Word Made Flesh: Dickinson’s Variants and the Life of Language Melanie Hubbard 33 Chapter 3 Magical Transformations: “Necromancy Sweet,” Texts, and Identity in Fascicle 8 Eleanor Elson Heginbotham 63 Chapter 4 The Precincts of Play: Fascicle 22 Domhnall Mitchell 86 Chapter 5 “Looking at Death, is Dying”: Fascicle 16 in a Civil War Context Paula Bernat Bennett 106 Chapter 6 Civil War(s) and Dickinson Manuscript Book Reconstructions, Deconstructed Martha Nell Smith 130 vi Contents Chapter 7 Managing Multiple Contexts: Dickinson, Genre, and the Circulation of Fascicle 1 Alexandra Socarides 150 Chapter 8 Manuscript Study, Fascicle Study: Appreciating Dickinson’s Prosody Ellen Louise Hart 169 Chapter 9 “This – was my finallest / Occasion – ”: Fascicle 40 and Dickinson’s Aesthetic of Intrinsic Renown Paul Crumbley 191 Chapter 10 Coda from My Emily Dickinson Susan Howe 217 Notes 219 Works Cited 252 Contributors 265 Index of First Lines 267 Index to Letters (including poems cited as letters) 273 General Index 274 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Fascicle 13, “Of bronze and blaze.” By permission of The Houghton Library, Harvard University. (MS Am 1118, 3 [74]). © The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 29 Figure 2 Fascicle 13, “There’s a certain slant of light.” By permission of The Houghton Library, Harvard University. MS( Am 1118, 3 [74]). © The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 30 Figure 3 MS 0778 Josephine Kingsley Hardy Papers. Series 2, “Casket of Gems,” essay 7; Series 2, “What Employment Brings the Most Happiness” composition. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections. 41 Figure 4 “John Milton as a Politician.” Amherst College, Archives and Special Collections. 44–5 Figure 5 Fascicle 33 MSS Boxes “K.” Charles Baker Kittredge. Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society. 48–9 Figure 6 Fascicle 8, “Ah, Necromancy Sweet!” By permission of The Houghton Library, Harvard University. (MS Am 1119.3 [16d]) © The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 64 Figure 7 Fascicle 2 (80–1), “There is a word.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 140 vii viii List of Illustrations Figure 8 Fascicle 2 (80–9), part of inked out “One Sister have I in the house.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 141 Figure 9 Fascicle 2 (80–6 verso facing 80–7), “Once more, my now bewildered Dove.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 144 Figure 10 Fascicle 19 (80–7 recto), “The Face I carry with me – last –” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 145 Figure 11 Fascicle 2 (80–8 recto), “Bless God, he went as soldiers.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 146 Figure 12 Fascicle 2 (80–8a), inked-over manuscripts. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 147 Figure 13 Fascicle 2, canceled out with pencil, transcription by Todd of second stanza of “To venerate the simple days.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 149 Figure 14 Fascicle 1, “As if I asked a common alms –” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 158–9 Figure 15 Pre-fascicle draft of “If those I loved were lost.” Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. 165 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L = The Lettersnumber Fr = Franklin poem number F = Fascicle number MB = Manuscript Books page number ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS or a volume such as this, one that represents the dedication and F scholarship of numerous contributors, it is impossible to trace a sin- gle path that neatly leads from first conception to final completion. The book began when, after a particularly lively meeting of the Emily Dickin- son Society, in a restaurant in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2003, we (Eleanor Heginbotham and Paul Crumbley) talked of the need for thoughtful, informed responses to the still-new and already somewhat contentious subject of Dickinson’s fascicles. There and then we decided to co-edit a volume of essays. We agreed that it would be a daunting but timely project, one that would require the best minds in the field, so we immediately assembled a dream list of contributors, sent out invitations, and then asked everyone to be patient. We had to be patient because the work was hard and most of us didn’t know where we would wind up once we got started. We did know that we would have to be flexible and allow the work to take shape over time; even the fastest among us understood that. As a consequence, the people we most want to thank are our contribu- tors, the wonderful scholars who stuck with us over the years and so gener- ously granted each other the time to let their thoughts mature. From the very beginning of our work, influential early scholars of the manuscripts, Sharon Cameron and Susan Howe, also encouraged our project and con- tributed greatly to it through their significant books and by allowing us to use portions of their groundbreaking work to frame our current collection. We hope all of you will agree that the highest expression of our gratitude to xi xii Acknowledgments you is the book itself and the opportunity it affords all of us to make this important work available to the public. Second only to the contributors, we want to thank the patient and expert editing wisdom of the team at The Ohio State University Press: Malcolm Litchfield, Director; Eugene O’Connor, copyediting coordinator; Juliet Williams, tyepesetter; Lindsay Martin, acquisitions editor, and Kris- ten Ebert, our copyeditor. Special thanks, too, to the press’s former Senior Editor, Sandy Crooms, for her indefatigable wisdom and encouragement through the long gestation of this project. As work on the book progressed, we became greatly indebted to the peer reviewers, whose suggestions for organization, particularly, helped us to shape the book into its present form and whose questions and suggestions sharpened the work. We also thank our cohorts in the Emily Dickinson International Society for their promotion of Dickinson scholarship and the support they have provided to all the contributors to this volume. We have all benefitted from annual meetings, international conferences, and the dissemination of scholarship through the Emily Dickinson Journal and the Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin. Paul personally wants to thank the Utah State University English department for the encouragement and generous support they have pro- vided over the duration of this project. Eleanor listed her mentors in her first book for The Ohio State University Press; she has only increased her gratitude for those at the University of Maryland and at Concordia Uni- versity Saint Paul in subsequent years. Both editors thank their families for their support and encouragement as well. We gratefully acknowledge the following presses and institutions for granting us permission to reproduce the materials that appear below. Emily Dickinson’s manuscripts are quoted by permission of the Trustees of Amherst College and the Houghton Library of Harvard University. The poems of Emily Dickinson are reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College from The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, ed. Ralph W. Franklin, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1998, 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the Presi- dent and Fellows of Harvard College. The Dickinson letters are reprinted by permission of the publishers from The Letters of Emily Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge,MA : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958, 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard col- lege; 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi; 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson; 1960 by Mary L. Hampson. Acknowledgments xiii “Dickinson’s Fascicles” by Sharon Cameron is an adaptation of portions of the introductory chapter to Choosing Not Choosing, by Sharon Cameron © 1992 by the University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved. The adap- tation was first published in The Emily Dickinson Handbook, edited by Gudrun Grabher, Roland Hagenbüchle, and Cristanne Miller (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998). The “Coda” contribution from Susan Howe that ends our book is from My Emily Dickinson, copyright © 1985 by Susan Howe. Reprinted by per- mission of New Directions Publishing Corp.