EMILY DICKINSON

Rating:
Summary: Penetrating View of ED's Thought-World and Private Language
Review: Having read (more or less) every biography of Dickinson -- perhaps the greatest poet in English and one of the great literary sensibilities on record -- Cynthia Wolff's is the one which stands out as placing her in the appropriate context. Other biographies (for example, Sewell's) may contain a greater degree of sheer information, but none is so intelligently selective as this. Wolff's scholarship is something one can only marvel at. She attempts to, and succeeds brilliantly at, surrounding Dickinson by her literary and cultural milieu, the revivalist fervor sweeping New England at the time, her familial dynamics, the role of someone of her gender and class at that place and time. Rather than see just the face of Dickinson, a full portrait of her world emerges.

Wolff's readings are unconventional because, quite frankly, she's one of the few who's gone to the trouble of realizing that Dickinson had an ICONOGRAPHY, that certain terms appear with regularity of time and meaning. "Ample", "wrestle", "elect", "father", "bird", "bee" -- one can go on and on, if one really looks -- all derive meaning *cumulatively* from Dickinson's poetic work and voluminous, lapidarian correspondence. Many terms are consistently ironic, or mean their opposites; 'reading' the poems without realizing this will produce the kinds of interpretations produced with disappointing regularity by less careful critics. Wolff has drunk it all in, and synthesized it, in a monumental work of decipherment.

This probably shouldn't be the only Dickinson biography one reads. But it should be at the top of any such list.

Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: The greatest strength of this biography is found in its interpretations of ED's poems. Wolff is a careful and insightful reader, capable of teasing out many layers of meaning in even the most elliptical pieces. Her analyses sometimes left me breathless; there's a special pleasure in discovering new meanings in familiar poems.

As noted by another reviewer, Wolff does approach this biography with a kind of agenda. She is most interested in demonstrating how Dickinson rebelled (both in work and life) against the Trinitarian Christianity of her upbringing. Wolff really excels here, and her insight is delicious. Wolff also imbues her readings with a feminist tilt; she never descends into theoretical jargon, but her readings are often skewed by her concern with gender. I wasn't bothered by this, since her interpretations still proved fruitful and provocative. Wolff is weakest in describing ED's relationship with her mother; the psychological bent she brings to this rings a bit hollow for me, and she rides her insight about the infant poet's emotional deprivation through the entire work. Her speculation, in my opinion, isn't helpful or needed.

As a life story, this volume isn't quite so complete as it might've been. It's more a work of criticism than biographical scholarship (although Wolff brings much learning to bear in her critiques on ED's work). If you're interested in the specifics of Dickinson's life, I'd recommend starting with Sewall's monumental biography.

It's also worth noting that some critics have disagreed with Wolff's commentary on Dickinson's life, particular the poet's childhood (Wolff's take on it is rather bleak, a conclusion not necessarily supported by the historical records). I'm not a Dickinson scholar, so I can't answer to these arguments. I do love ED's poetry deeply, however, and found this book a compassionate and fascinating read.

Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: The greatest strength of this biography is found in its interpretations of ED's poems. Wolff is a careful and insightful reader, capable of teasing out many layers of meaning in even the most elliptical pieces. Her analyses sometimes left me breathless; there's a special pleasure in discovering new meanings in familiar poems.

As noted by another reviewer, Wolff does approach this biography with a kind of agenda. She is most interested in demonstrating how Dickinson rebelled (both in work and life) against the Trinitarian Christianity of her upbringing. Wolff really excels here, and her insight is delicious. Wolff also imbues her readings with a feminist tilt; she never descends into theoretical jargon, but her readings are often skewed by her concern with gender. I wasn't bothered by this, since her interpretations still proved fruitful and provocative. Wolff is weakest in describing ED's relationship with her mother; the psychological bent she brings to this rings a bit hollow for me, and she rides her insight about the infant poet's emotional deprivation through the entire work. Her speculation, in my opinion, isn't helpful or needed.

As a life story, this volume isn't quite so complete as it might've been. It's more a work of criticism than biographical scholarship (although Wolff brings much learning to bear in her critiques on ED's work). If you're interested in the specifics of Dickinson's life, I'd recommend starting with Sewall's monumental biography.

It's also worth noting that some critics have disagreed with Wolff's commentary on Dickinson's life, particular the poet's childhood (Wolff's take on it is rather bleak, a conclusion not necessarily supported by the historical records). I'm not a Dickinson scholar, so I can't answer to these arguments. I do love ED's poetry deeply, however, and found this book a compassionate and fascinating read.

Rating:
Summary: Emily Dickinson by Cynthia Griffin Wolff
Review: This work should be read by anyone interested in biography, but not for reasons the author might suspect. Here is a perfect example of biography as personal agenda. Here is biography as a skillfully written---but convoluted---interpretation of the life, letters and poems of Emily Dickinson.

Wolff should have written an editorial and clearly marked it as such.

However, one good service was provided. My friends and I would read a poem being discussed by Wolff, and then read her "forced" interpretation of it. We had many hearty laughs. But we also felt genuine pity for Wolff. Is this what she has to do to defend her agenda? Does she have no other means?

I do not worry about scholars reading this book. In fact they should read it. They will easily discover those parts that are useful---and there are many---and discard the rest. But what about young students? What of those who do not know Emily and pick this book as their first meeting with her?

Instead, may I suggest they read "The Capsule of the Mind" by Theodora Ward. It is also a psychological look at Emily Dickinson. Ward is the granddaughter of Doctor and Mrs. Josiah Gilbert Holland, two of Emily's closest friends. Ward was also an assistant to Thomas H. Johnson, Harvard University, the person most responsible for bringing us Emily's letters and poems. In fact, Ward herself was inspired to become a Dickinson scholar when she discovered sixty-five of Emily's letters in her family's attic.

Cynthia Wolff, please spare us your politically correct---but factually incorrect---views on Emily Dickinson.

Joe Psarto 27843 Detroit Road # 412 Westlake, Ohio 44145 (440-835-5179)>[e-mail]<