Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds

533 Pages·2010·5.54 MB·English

by  Lyndall Gordon

Table of Contents

Copyright Page
Title Page
Dedication

I: A POET NEXT DOOR

II: ‘A STILL—VOLCANO—LIFE’
Chapter 1 - THE FIRST FAMILY
Chapter 2 - A SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION
Chapter 3 - SISTER
Chapter 4 - ‘WIFE WITHOUT THE SIGN’
Chapter 5 - ‘SNARL IN THE BRAIN’
Chapter 6 - TELLING
Chapter 7 - ROMANCING JUDGE LORD
Chapter 8 - SPLIT IN THE FAMILY

III: MABEL’S REIGN
Chapter 9 - EMILY’S STAND
Chapter 10 - LADY MACBETH OF AMHERST
Chapter 11 - MABEL IN EXCELSIS

IV: THE WAR BETWEEN THE HOUSES
Chapter 12 - LAVINIA’S STAND
Chapter 13 - THE TRIAL
Chapter 14 - DEFEATS OF THE FIRST GENERATION
Chapter 15 - TWO DAUGHTERS
Chapter 16 - THE BATTLE OF THE DAUGHTERS
Chapter 17 - POSTHUMOUS CAMPAIGNS

V: OUTLIVING THE LEGEND

SOURCES
NOTES
Acknowledgements
PERMISSIONS
INDEX
POEMS: INDEX OF FIRST LINES
VIKING
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Copyright © Lyndall Gordon, 2010 All rights reserved

Pages viii-x and 474 constitute an extension of this copyright page.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Gordon, Lyndall.
Lives like loaded guns : Emily Dickinson and her family’s feuds / Lyndall Gordon.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-1-10119019-7
1. Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886—Family. 2. Poets, American—19th century—Family relationships. 3.
Amherst
(Mass.)—Intellectual life—19th century. I. Title.
PS1541.Z5G66 2010
811’.4—dc22
[B]
2009046311

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Also by Lyndall Gordon
T. S. ELIOT: AN IMPERFECT LIFE

VIRGINIA WOOLF: A WRITER’S LIFE

SHARED LIVES (A MEMOIR)

CHARLOTTE BRONTË: A PASSIONATE LIFE

A PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY JAMES: TWO WOMEN AND HIS ART

VINDICATION: A LIFE OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
‘My Life has stood—a Loaded Gun’
EMILY DICKINSON

‘It was a devilish situation for everyone concerned’
MILLICENT TODD BINGHAM