Emily Dickinson's Approving God: Divine Design and the Problem of Suffering

273 Pages·2008·0.8 MB·English

by  Patrick J. Keane

000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page i
E m i l y
D i c k i n s o n ’s
Approving God
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page ii
This page intentionally left blank
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page iii
E m i l y
D i c k i n s o n ’s
Approving God
Divine Design and the Problem of Suffering
Patrick J. Keane
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page iv
Copyright © 2008 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Keane, Patrick J.
Emily Dickinson's approving God : divine design and the problem of
suffering / Patrick J. Keane.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Focusing on Emily Dickinson's poem ‘Apparently with no
surprise,’ Keane explores the poet's embattled relationship with the deity of her
Calvinist tradition, reflecting on literature and religion, faith and skepticism,
theology and science in light of continuing confrontations between Darwinism
and design, science and literal conceptions of a divine Creator”—Provided by
publisher.
ISBN 978-0-8262-1808-7 (alk. paper)
1. Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Dickinson,
Emily, 1830-1886—Religion. 3. Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886—Knowledge—
Calvinism. 4. Theology in literature. 5. Belief and doubt in literature.
6.Religion and literature—United States—History—19th century. 7. Science
and literature—United States—History—19th century. I. Title.
PS1541.Z5K36 2008
811'.4—dc22
2008020814
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Jennifer Cropp
Typesetter: BookComp, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Palatino, Cochin, and Aquinas
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page v
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
A Note on Dickinson Texts xiii
Introduction:
A Poem and Its Theological, Scientific, and Political Contexts 1
Part I
Chapter 1. The Poem and Images of God 25
Chapter 2. Religion and Science:
Einstein’s Spinozistic God 42
Chapter 3. God and Evolution:
The Contemporary Debate 58
Chapter 4. Design, Challenged and Defended 76
Chapter 5. Emily Dickinson on Christ and Crucifixion 91
Part II
Chapter 6. Destroyers and Victims:
“Apparently with no Surprise” and Related Scenarios 107
Chapter 7. Design and Accident 118
Chapter 8. Frost, the Blonde Assassin 132
Chapter 9: Dickinson’s Death-Haunted Earthly Paradise 144
Chapter 10. Flowers, and Thoughts Too Deep for Tears 160
v
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page vi
vi Contents
Chapter 11. Questioning Divine Benevolence 174
Chapter 12. The Final Dialectic:
Believing and Disbelieving 191
Conclusion:
Multi-Perspectivism in Interpretation 205
Appendix:
Derek Mahon’s “A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford” 215
Bibliography 225
Index of First Lines 237
General Index 241
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page vii
Dedicated to Michele Christy
and, in particularly loving memory,
to Kay Farquhar
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page viii
This page intentionally left blank
000 fm i-xvi 7/16/08 8:57 AM Page ix
The whole truth about Emily Dickinson will elude us always. She
seems almost willfully to have seen to that.
—Richard Sewall, The Life of Emily Dickinson
God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take
which you please,—you can never have both. Between these, as a
pendulum, man oscillates. He in whom the love of repose dominates
will accept the first creed, the first philosophy, the first political party
he meets,—most likely his father’s. He gets rest, commodity, and rep-
utation; but he shuts the door to truth. He in whom the love of truth
predominates will keep himself aloof from all moorings, and afloat.
He will abstain from dogmatism, and recognize all the opposite
negations, between which, as walls, his being is swung. He submits
to the inconvenience of suspense and imperfect opinion, but he is a
candidate for truth, as the other is not, and respects the highest law
of his being.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Intellect”
The question whether the universe and the place human beings have
within it owe their origin to blind chance or to a supremely wise and
good plan arouses us all.
—Christoph Cardinal Schönborn,
“Rea son able Science, Reasonable Faith”
A god who is all-knowing and all-powerful and who does not even
make sure that his creatures understand his intention—could that be a
god of goodness? Who allows countless doubts and dubieties to per-
sist, for thousands of years, as though the salvation of mankind were
unaffected by them, and who on the other hand holds out the prospect
of frightful consequences if any mistake is made as to the nature of the
truth? Would he not be a cruel god if he possessed the truth and could
behold mankind miserably tormenting itself over the truth?
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak
If we love Flowers, are we not “born again” every day?
—Emily Dickinson, Letters
There is no new thing under the sun.
—Ecclesiastes