1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789913003321

Autore

Walsh John Evangelist <1927->

Titolo

Emily Dickinson in love [[electronic resource] ] : the case for Otis Lord / / John Evangelist Walsh

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, 2012

ISBN

1-280-49343-7

9786613588661

0-8135-5337-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 200 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

811/.4

Soggetti

Poets, American - 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- PROLOGUE: A PUZZLEMENT -- I. THE UNMASKING -- II. THE LOVE AFFAIR -- APPENDICES -- Acknowledgments -- Notes and Sources -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Index to Poems

Sommario/riassunto

From the award-winning author of Poe the Detective: The Curious Circumstances Behind "The Mystery of Marie Roget" comes a compelling argument for the identity of Emily Dickinson’s true love Proud of my broken heart Since thou didst break it, Proud of the pain I Did not feel till thee . . . Those words were written by Emily Dickinson to a married man. Who was he? For a century or more the identity of Emily Dickinson’s mysterious “Master” has been eagerly sought, especially since three letters from her to him were found and published in 1955. In Emily Dickinson in Love, John Evangelist Walsh provides the first book-length treatment of this fascinating subject, offering a solution based wholly on documented facts and the poet’s own writings. Crafting the affair as a love story of rare appeal, and writing with exquisite attention to detail, in Part I Walsh reveals and meticulously proves the Master to be Otis Lord, a friend of the poet’s father and a man of some reputation in law and politics. Part II portrays the full dimensions of their thirty-year romance, most of it clandestine, including a series of secret meetings in Boston. After uncovering and



confirming the Master’s identity, Walsh fits that information into known events of Emily’s life to make sense of facts long known but little understood—Emily’s decision to dress always in white, for instance, or her extreme withdrawal from a normal existence when she had previously been an active, outgoing friend to many men and women. In a lengthy section of Notes and Sources, Walsh presents his proofs in abundant detail, demonstrating that the evidence favors one man so irresistibly that there is left no room for doubt. Each reader will decide if he has truly succeeded in making the case for Otis Lord.