“My friends are my ‘estate’,” Emily Dickinson wrote, and I have many to thank.
I am grateful to Dickinson biographers and critics who have come before me, especially Ralph Franklin, Lyndall Gordon, Alfred Habegger, Thomas Johnson, Jay Leyda, David Porter, Adrienne Rich, and Richard Sewall. Current scholars have generously shared their time and expertise, among them Christopher Benfey, the late Jed Deppman, Julie Dobrow, Jane Eberwein, Suzanne Juhasz, Cynthia MacKenzie, Cristanne Miller, Aife Murray, Emily Seelbinder, and Susan Snively. The entire Emily Dickinson International Society community has shaped my thinking, and I am indebted to them for their insights and fellowship. I would also like to thank Kate Phillips, whose work on Helen Hunt Jackson has been particularly helpful.
Countless archivists have made my work more precise, and a lot more fun. For answering questions with patience and good humor, I would like to thank Margaret Dakin and Mike Kelly at Amherst College, Cynthia Harbeson at the Jones Library, Leslie Fields and Deborah Richards at Mount Holyoke College Archives, Jessy Randall at Colorado College, and Dan Lombardo.
Over many decades, I have relied on the kindness and hard work of the Emily Dickinson Museum staff. Every time I walk through the Museum door, I find laughter, imagination, and good will. I would like to express my appreciation to Lucy Abbott, Brooke Steinhauser, and Michael Medeiros. Cynthia Dickinson and Jane Wald deserve a special thank you. Not only have they helped me each time I called but also they have enriched my life with their long friendship.
The conceit of this book began in an upstairs room at the Dickinson Museum, where for nearly two decades I taught an Emily Dickinson seminar. My Mount Holyoke College students brought me joy every Tuesday afternoon, and they challenged me in ways that happily complicated my understanding. I am grateful for those moments when Dickinson’s words grabbed my students on a personal level. At times they were stunned into silence or deeply unsettled when the world suddenly seemed to shift under their feet. Watching them grapple with Dickinson’s genius reminded me of what is at the heart of literature, and teaching.
Many friends have read these chapters. First and foremost, I would like to thank Joanne Dobson for her dedicated and meticulous read. When it comes to All-Things-Dickinson, I trust no one more. I met Joanne and Karen Dandurand years ago when we were graduate students at the University of Massachusetts. Our boundless conversations during those years and the years that followed provided the bedrock for my study of Dickinson. In Karen and Joanne, I found my tribe—and this book is dedicated to them.
I also would like to thank friends who read these pages or who put up with me talking endlessly about them. They are: Christina and Sara Barber-Just, Jane Crosthwaite, James Fitzgerald, Julia Hendrix, and Mary Young. Kathy Dempsey Zimmerman read with enthusiasm and curiosity, and helped me anticipate readers’ questions. James Gehrt deserves special thanks. James is my neighbor and former colleague at Mount Holyoke College. He brought his artistic eye to the project, providing many photographs for the book. I always have fun when I’m on a photography adventure with James, and I always learn from what he sees.
I have been a lucky duck to land at W. W. Norton. I’d like to thank my editor, Jill Bialosky, for believing in this project and for her astute ear for poetry. Jill’s comments pushed me in ways that deepened this work and opened new doors in my thinking. Drew Elizabeth Weitman provided a steady hand with everything from deadlines to sizing photos. I appreciate her know-how and attention to detail. Sarahmay Wilkinson designed the cover, a strikingly beautiful concept based on the poet’s bedroom wallpaper. Rachelle Mandik’s careful copyediting made this book tighter, clearer, and saved me from more than one goof. Rose Sheehan and Rachel Salzman steered promotion with vigor and enthusiasm. And what good fortune to have Lauren Abbate guiding this book through production. Lauren is a former Mount Holyoke College student of mine who years ago took my Dickinson seminar. I was in good hands with Lauren as production manager, and it brings me a particular pleasure to see her doing the job so well.
Ellen Geiger has been my literary agent for over twenty years, and always knew this Dickinson book was in me. Thank you, Ellen, for being the best champion These Fevered Days could have. It was a stroke of luck that brought me into your orbit years ago. I’m grateful for your good advice, and all the good times we have shared.
Finally, my deepest thanks go to my wife, Ann Romberger. Ann has always said she doesn’t “really understand poetry”—and that makes convincing her to give Emily Dickinson a whirl all the more challenging—delightfully so. Ann has read every one of these words three, four, five times or more—through all the multiple drafts, even the really rotten ones. By now, she’s earned her poetry stripes. But you know what? I think she always knew more than she let on. All along she realized I had to find Dickinson for myself. Thank you, Ann, for knowing what matters most.