The F-Word, Part 2

From Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

I attended the 188th Birthday Tribute for Emily Dickinson at the Folger Shakespeare Library on December 10, 2018.
 
This is Part 2 of my recap of the event.  Part 1 is HERE.  

​After Jen Bervin’s presentation on Jay Layde’s work, Martha Nell Smith, the president of the Emily Dickinson International Society, spoke about “an unintentional” lie she helped promulgate in her work in presenting her dissertation years ago.  Before she confessed the lie, though, she asked those in attendance to keep a quote in mind – one in a letter to Susan Dickinson from Emily Dickinson:
 
"Dear Sue ~  With  the exception of Shakespeare, you have  told  me  of more  knowledge than any one living -- To  say  that  sincerely is  strange  praise.”
 
‘Twas then Ms. Smith divulged her lie – that Susan Dickinson was not all that important to Emily Dickinson.

To be honest, though, this view – that Susan’s role in Emily’s life was slight – was more a “false fact,” a belief accepted as truth in its day rather than a deliberate lie.  

Ms. Smith then reminded the audience of her opening quote and took time to set the record straight.  Interestingly enough, it was Jay Leyda who – when he learned that Ms. Smith researched the letters of Emily Dickinson – advised her to spend her career in righting this misconception, “for Susan Dickinson had been greatly wronged.”
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In truth, Emily Dickinson wrote more letters to Susan than any other person with whom she corresponded (and we’re talking hundreds of more letters) – and the main culprit in creating and perpetuating this myth (an "alternative fact" in today's lingo) was none other than Mabel Loomis Todd, Austin Dickinson’s mistress.
 
Much of Smith’s work to undo the decades of tangled tales and perceptions is presented in her book Open Me Carefully, an insightful collection of some of Emily Dickinson's thirty-six year correspondences with her childhood friend, neighbor, and sister-in-law.
 
Slowly but surely, the record is being straight on Susan Hutchinson Gilbert Dickinson, who – in a letter to Curtis Hidden Page – noted that “Poetry is Sermon – Hope – Solace – Life.”
 

After Smith’s presentation there was a short panel discussion with Bervin, Smith, and Madeleine Olnek, the director of the new film “Wild Nights with Emily.”
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Later in the evening was when Smith blurted out the “F-Word” (as I noted in Part 1) – but no no, no – NOT that “F-Word.”  But more on that later.  I promise to get to that in Part 3 of this review.  Coming soon.


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