My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson

I found Habegger's writing excellent, succinct and, many times, amusing. Having taught a course on Dickson's for many years (described in the Forward), he has an uncanny grasp of the minor characters no one remembers, and it is brought home that these characters are only being examined because they had some link to a strange and increasingly withdrawn poet. The author was able to show the point of view that is missing, Dicken's, which radiated from her obsessive way of relating to others. Her family history is especially interesting, showing an authoritarian and anti-feminist father, the type woman (a drone) her mother was, and the resulting progency, the three children. Enough is included to draw one's own conclusions about the poetess, who may have been caged, but accepted the bars in that cage because put there by her father. In some ways, Emily (to my mind) failed to deliver herself.

I began this book with trepidation, for I find myself slightly suspicious of literary biographies finding them to be either too sensationalized or reductive or too academic to be interesting to the average reader. This is a well-researched volume that does not read like a doctoral thesis. But Alfred Habegger manages to discover a delightful balance between scholarly research and public readability. I adore Dickinson and was impressed with the manner in which Habegger handled his subject. He presents her with the complexity and intellectual approach toward she deserves. Emily Dickinson appears as neither the bizarre recluse nor a misunderstood sexual being of some of her previous biographies. If, as some readers have found, the poet appears a bit unresolved and incomplete, it is only because Mr. Habegger wisely chose NOT to sensationalize his book with unsubstantiated presumptions as to her personal life. I enjoyed the author's scholarly, non-sensationalist approach to Ms. Dickinson and found that it did not prevent me from "knowing her" as a person or subject. One of Alfred Hebeggar's greatest strengths is his realization that no artist exists in a vacuum. He presents to his readers the complex outer world that inspired the poets rich inner world allowing us to draw many of our own conclusions. Meticulously researched and gently paced, the book is a journey not merely a chronicle of a single life. Instead, it is an insightful look at the entire Dickinsonian world of family, academics, and petty town politics. Habegger introduces the reader to the poet's entire extended family and the emotional movement within it. He allows the reader to truly see the social and political environment in which the poet lived. And that is fascinating in its own right. Overall, I enjoyed the book very much and appreciate Alfred Hebeggar's unique ability to strike a balance scholarship and authorship. He is never condescending, yet he explains thoroughly. He treats the reader as an intelligent person with a mind eager for historical details and biographical accuracy and he treats his subject with respect and intellectual dignity. His book is academically valid without sacrificing the art of solid writing.

Beginning with Habegger's inspired choice of the title, from one of Dickinson's poems, this book is a comprehensive, respectful look at an enigmatic woman. Habegger fleshes out well the cast of characters in her self-limited sphere, so that we feel we know well her family members and friends of that Victorian era so different from our own. The poet herself remains somewhat elusive, but I thank Habegger for refusing to reduce her to psychological cliches. His book is refreshingly free of five-cent analyses, however tempting Dickinson's character might be for such dismissive summaries. There is no doubt that Dickinson ranks as one of the greatest American poets, due to her concise, spare, whimsical, and cerebral approach. Personally, I have never warmed to her poetry as I sense something lacking. She elevates feeling above all, as do all the poets of the romantic period. Unlike her Puritan ancestors, for whom the greatest love was the love of God, her energies and attachments all flow both from, and toward, her own feelings. Like a moonstruck adolescent, she prefers her dreams of love to the actual presence of the loved one. From her decision to withdraw from the necessary order and balance of the outside world, comes this outpouring of intense feeling expressed in the large body of her work. As a Lay Carmelite whose spiritual life has also been informed by Puritan ancestors, I praise the beauty of Dickinson's poems, but I cannot deny what seems to me their essential, self-referring shallowness. I know many will disagree with me and I do not disallow her position in the American canon.

I began this book with trepidation, for I find myself slightly suspicious of literary biographies finding them to be either too sensationalized or reductive or too academic to be interesting to the average reader. This is a well-researched volume that does not read like a doctoral thesis. But Alfred Habegger manages to discover a delightful balance between scholarly research and public readability. I adore Dickinson and was impressed with the manner in which Habegger handled his subject. He presents her with the complexity and intellectual approach toward she deserves. Emily Dickinson appears as neither the bizarre recluse nor a misunderstood sexual being of some of her previous biographies. If, as some readers have found, the poet appears a bit unresolved and incomplete, it is only because Mr. Habegger wisely chose NOT to sensationalize his book with unsubstantiated presumptions as to her personal life. I enjoyed the author's scholarly, non-sensationalist approach to Ms. Dickinson and found that it did not prevent me from "knowing her" as a person or subject. One of Alfred Hebeggar's greatest strengths is his realization that no artist exists in a vacuum. He presents to his readers the complex outer world that inspired the poets rich inner world allowing us to draw many of our own conclusions. Meticulously researched and gently paced, the book is a journey not merely a chronicle of a single life. Instead, it is an insightful look at the entire Dickinsonian world of family, academics, and petty town politics. Habegger introduces the reader to the poet's entire extended family and the emotional movement within it. He allows the reader to truly see the social and political environment in which the poet lived. And that is fascinating in its own right.Overall, I enjoyed the book very much and appreciate Alfred Hebeggar's unique ability to strike a balance scholarship and authorship. He is never condescending, yet he explains thoroughly. He treats the reader as an intelligent person with a mind eager for historical details and biographical accuracy and he treats his subject with respect and intellectual dignity. His book is academically valid without sacrificing the art of solid writing.

In my opinion this is the best biography of Emily Dickinson. Habbeger integrates the most recent scholarship with independent judgment to paint a sophisticated and sympathetic picture of our elusive genius. Unusual in a biography is his clear story line that allows us to watch Dickinson's gradually developing sense of herself and her vocation against a background of deep prejudice against most kinds of accomplishment for women. "[We] should keep in mind that she was a noncitizen by force of custom and law, that many doors were closed to her, and that she left behind more good hard work than any of us." (page 504) The general reader and we amateur Dickinson freaks will find a treasure house of information, insight, and enhanced appreciation of our off-center idol.