Dickinson Unbound This page intentionally left blank Dickinson Unbound Paper, Process, Poetics xwx Alexandra Socarides 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Material from Th e Poems of Emily Dickinson reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College. Th e Poems of Emily Dickinson , edited by Ralph Franklin, Cambridge, Mass.: Th e Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1998, 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Material from Th e Lett ers of Emily Dickinson reprinted by permission of the publishers. Th e Lett ers of Emily Dickinson , Th omas H. Johnson, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: Th e Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958, 1986 by Th e President and Fellows of Harvard College; 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi; 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson; 1960 by Mary L. Hampson. “Rethinking the Fascicles: Dickinson’s Writing, Copying, and Binding Practices” was fi rst published in E mily Dickinson Journal 15, no. 2 (2006): 69–94. Reprinted with permission by Th e Johns Hopkins University Press. “Th e Poetics of Interruption: Dickinson, Death, and the Fascicles” was fi rst published in A Companion to Emily Dickinson , ed. Martha Nell Smith and Mary Loeff elholz. Malden, MA: Blackwell (2008): 309–333. Reprinted with permission by Blackwell Publishing. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Socarides, Alexandra. Dickinson unbound : paper, process, poetics / Alexandra Socarides. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-985808-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) 1. Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PS1541.Z5S675 2012 811 ′ .4—dc23 2011043282 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations xi Introduction 3 1. Dickinson’s Sheets 2 0 2. Epistolary Practices and the Problem of Genre 4 9 3. Sewing the Fascicles: Elegy, Consolation, and the Poetics of Interruption 7 8 4. Dickinson’s “Sets” and the Rejection of Sequence 105 5. Methods of Unmaking: Dickinson’s Late Draft s, Scraps, and Fragments 130 Aft erword 168 Notes 173 Bibliography 193 Poems Referenced 199 Index 203 ( v ) This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the many archives and special collections that provided me with access to their holdings, with time amongst their materials, and in some cases, with fi nancial support, without which this book would not have been possible. To Mike Kelly, Margaret Dakin, Peter Nelson, Mariah Sakrejda-Leavitt , and Daria D’Arienzo at the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections; to Leslie Morris at the Houghton Library; to Sean Casey and Eric Fraser at the Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department; and to Caroline Sloat, Jaclyn Penny, Th omas Knoles, and the family of Stephen Botein at the American Antiquarian Society. Th anks, also, to each of these archives for providing me with the fantastic images that appear in this book, and to Dinah Fried for making the perfect illustration of how Dickinson made her fascicles. Th is project has been funded by many sources over the years, and I am indebted to the people at institutions (both large and small) who read my many proposals and thought that such a book was worth their sup- port. Th anks to Rutgers University for the Kalstone Grant, a Mellon Travel Grant, and a Mellon Summer Seminar Grant; to the Emily Dickinson International So- ciety for a Graduate Research Fellowship and the Scholar in Amherst Award; to the National Humanities Seminar for a spot in Sharon Cameron’s 2008 Summer Lit- erary Institute on Dickinson; and to the University of Missouri’s Research Council, Research Board, and Center for Arts and Humanities. An earlier version of part of Chapter 1 appeared in the E mily Dickinson Journal and an earlier version of part of Chapter 3 appeared in A Companion to Emily Dickinson . I am grateful to Johns Hop- kins University Press and Blackwell Publishing for giving me permission to reprint them here; thanks also to the editors—Cristanne Miller, Martha Nell Smith, and Mary Loeff elholz—for including my work in these publications. Lastly, I am enor- mously lucky to have had this book fall into the hands of Brendan O’Neill at Oxford University Press; he took care of it (and me) at every stage and secured three fantas- tic anonymous readers, each of whom saw what I was trying to do and helped me to do it bett er. If the institutions and funding sources made the research possible, it was the people who surrounded me that made the writing of this book possible. For early inspiration in the ways of reading poetry, I would like to thank Robert Farnsworth, Marie Howe, and Suzanne Hoover. Th ey each made it so that by the time I arrived at graduate school, I already knew how to eat, sleep, and breath the poems I loved. ( vii ) ( viii ) Acknowledgments At Rutgers University, I had the privilege of learning from a wonderful assortment of scholars, including and in particular, Carolyn Williams, Michael McKeon, Michael Warner, Myra Jehlen, Colin Jager, and Richard Miller. Alison Shonkwiler, Kristie Allen, and Sunny Stalter-Pace read the earliest draft s, off ered incisive feed- back, and generally made writing a dissertation a whole lot less painful. Since arriving at the University of Missouri, I have had the pleasure of working in an enormously supportive and stimulating environment. Th anks, in particular, to Pat Okker, John Evelev, Tom Quirk, Noah Heringman, and Andy Hoberek, who have off ered invaluable guidance along the way. I couldn’t ask for a bett er writing group than that which is composed of Anne Myers and Frances Dickey. I am indebted to the graduate students who took my Dickinson seminar for talking Dickinson with me during the fi nal stages of my writing, and to Mike Horton for crucial re- search assistance. In recent years I have come to know a fantastic assortment of nineteenth-century Americanists, many of whom have off ered feedback, discus- sion, and criticism on this project, as well as their friendship. I am grateful to the members of the Midwest Nineteenth Century Americanist Group—especially Melissa Homestead, Susan Harris, Laura Mielke, and Stephanie Fitzgerald—for commenting on the fi rst chapter; to Faith Barrett , Th eresa Strouth Gaul, Desirée Henderson, Jennifer Putzi, and Elizabeth Stockton for taking me under their wings and being the best interlocutors imaginable; to Chris Lukasik for being the most demanding of readers; and to Vivian Pollak for her curiosity and conversation at a crucial stage of my writing. Th roughout, I have been lucky enough to be guided by three amazing mentors, each of whose scholarship and spirit are visible on every page. To Martha Nell Smith, for modeling how to be, in equal parts, excited about what I think and humble to the work that surrounds me. To Virginia Jackson, for forcing me to rethink everything I knew and start all over again. And to Meredith McGill, for over a decade of guidance, mentorship, and friendship. When I tell my students that the most important decision they make in graduate school is choosing an excellent advisor, I speak from experience. Th anks to each of you for taking me on before I had anything to show for myself and for continuing to be there long aft er I should have fi gured it all out for myself. I hope these pages make each of you proud. And now to my friends and loved ones: Th anks for tolerating my constant need to go home to write my book and for asking about how it was going even when you weren’t totally sure what I was writing about. Nothing would be possible without the love and friendship of Bibi Prival, Liz Mayer, Debbie Neft , Jessica Morowitz, Katie Cushmore, Zanny Wood, Kathy Lubey, Joanna Luloff , Amanda Hinnant, and Sheri Harrison. Th anks to Lynn Duryee for reading this book in its entirety, to Jer- emy Faro for helping me come up with a title, and to Meredith Martin for helping it fi nd a home. Lastly, I want to acknowledge my family. To my mother, Barbara Bonner, for in- stilling in me early an interest in art, in how artists work, and in all kinds of beauty; Acknowledgments ( ix ) to my brothers—Charlie Socarides, Richard Socarides, and Bob Stolorow—each of whose passion for and dedication to what they do inspires me; and to my ex- tended family—Claudia Rosen, Lisa Rudikoff , Don Fried, and Vera Rosen—for having no obligation to love me and for doing so anyway. In memory of my sister, Dede Socarides Stolorow, who I have come to learn is present in all I do. To Gabe Fried, who gave me Dickinson’s M anuscript Books for my twenty-fourth birthday, long before I knew I would ever write a book about them, and who, years later, read all 1,789 poems out loud with me, just to make sure I really loved them. And lastly, to Archer and Nate (my heart and my soul), who were both born during the writing of this book: boundless gratitude.