My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson: The Early Life of Emily Dickinson (Modern Library Paperbacks) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The author has steered a firm middle course and refused any idle speculation on ED's sexuality, lovers, and sanity. However, he is not afraid to make a choice or a decision or two. He thinks Miss Dickinson had two great loves, but is not willing to confirm whether these existed solely in her imagination or were, in fact, reciprocated. There are lengthy sections on ED's father and grandfather, which I found well researched and shrewdly presented.

I was disappointed in his choice of the poetry analyzed. Some was obscure even to the Dickinson devotee, and not all was first rate. Though the book is hefty, literally and figuratively, I felt ED was but a shadow throughout. There are many well-documented instances of Miss Dickinson's sharp sense of humor, but none appeared in "My Wars Are Laid Away in Books." There is no sense of the entire family's eccentricity. Brother Austin, when a pillar of the town of Amherst, left his wife to take up with his mistress who lived across town. Think what a hullabaloo this must have caused in Victorian-era New England! Sister Lavinia became more and more peculiar as her age advanced. So Emily had a good background for some unconventional behavior.

I enjoyed the Sewell biography more, though it was written in 1972 without the benefit of Mr. Habegger's advanced scholarship. I believe Emily Dickinson told us all she wanted us to know in her poems. And thus far, she has succeeded.

The soul selects her own society-
Then shuts the door-
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing
At her low gate-
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation
Choose one-

Then close the valves of her attention--
Like stone.

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.