Comic Power In Emily Dickinson

by Suzanne Juhasz, Cristanne Miller, Martha Nell Smith

In this boldly revisionary work, three noted Dickinson scholars take issue with the traditional tragic image of the poet. Focusing on the comic elements in Dickinson's art from a feminist point of view, they show how Dickinson uses the comedic resources of language to contest all types of orthodoxy and to offer the possibility of transforming society. Following a jointly written chapter on "Comedy and Performance in Emily Dickinson's Poetry," each author takes up a different aspect of comedy in Dickinson's work. Suzanne Juhasz looks at teasing as a form of humor and criticism. Martha Nell Smith examines the cartoons (reproduced in this book) with which Dickinson illustrated some of her poems and letters and explores the way in which other poems present imagery in cartoon-like sequences. And Cristanne Miller delves into the humor of excess or grotesquerie which Dickinson uses to unhinge the reader's normalizing frames of reference and make space for a different perspective. These views introduce a new Emily Dickinson - playful, wry, witty, tough, bold, challenging, and successful. Comic Power in Emily Dickinson recovers a poet who questioned not only authority but also the structure of her society. It makes an important contribution to studies of women's humor and the relationship, between gender and authority.

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

I am a retired Professor of English and Women's Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Among my many books are "Reading from the Heart: Women, Literature, and the Search for True Love" and "The Undiscovered Continent: Emily Dickinson and the Space of the Mind."

My new book, "Discovering Senior Space: A Memoir," has just been published. It is not literary criticism. It is written for a general audience.

Reviews

[Kara Whicker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting. while I also believe Emily Dickinson had some pretty funny poems, Mostly those mocking her household cat or the idiocy of others, I found most of her humorous wit in her letters. For someone who spent a life time researching these letters I assumed at least some of them would make it into this book. Why, Ms. Martha Nell Smith, I'm a little disappointed.

Emily Dickinson was fascinated with learning. she spent her life reading books and researching nature. It comes to no surprise she was had quick wit too. evident in her letters and in Martha "Dickinson's" book "face to face". Most of her humor I found came in her exaggerations of feelings and disappointment.

There is one such letter where she exaggerates her boredom. "I regret to inform you that at three o'clock yesterday my mind came to a stand, and has since then been stationary. Ere this intelligence reaches you, I shall probably be a snail." It may just be my opinion, but wit such as this is way funnier then a one off riddle hidden in the 1800 thousand poems discovered in Emily Dickinson maid chest.

I also believe the humor hidden in Emily's poems was not meant for us. Many of those poems/riddles were sent to Susan Dickinsons family across the way. The Evergreen house and Emily Dickinson played games involving grammar, spelling, and punctuation we may never fully understand. I think humor hidden within such poems were only meant for Susan, Gib, Martha, and Ned.

But that cant stop me enjoying the wit in the public domain of Emily Dickinson's letters.

So I suppose if you're looking for a book of Dickinsons Poems and letters that include humor. I would go to "Open me Carefully". which, while it is meant to be a book full of supporting evidence of Dickinson's love for her sister in law Susan Gilbert, I found myself laughing throughout the entirety of. May it be after I cried.

[Zach Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I say anything else, I just want to say I enjoyed the book. It gave me a new way to view Dickinson's poetry, and I found it interesting. This being said, I take issue with the writers' definition of 'comic' because it broadens comedy out a little too much. In it, what’s 'comic' is extended out to things which aren't necessarily humorous but are used to, in essence, undermine someone's perception. I get where the author's came from with this concept but I find it opens too many doors with things which are clearly not comedic. As a tool for comedy, undermining the audience's idea of something is a valid form of comedy--it's the basis of satire--but I don't find that if something undermines one's perception of something it's necessarily comedic. When Dickinson uses things like a child-like voice in serious poems or drawing images of the feminine using a traditional form (in a non-traditional sense), she's not generally 'comedic' with it, but rather, she's subversive. I know that the authors claim that (my understanding was that they called this 'femininist poetry' which I find kind humorous because it essentially that feminist comedy isn't humorous, defeating, within a modern context, the purpose of comedy), however, as I said, it broadens the idea of comedy a little too much. Animal Farm, despite having a style that's very 'childish' isn't isn't comedy, similarly, many of Dickinson's poems which carry a subversive approach aren't comedy, rather they're pointed. I'm sick so idt this review was good, however, I wanted to get some thoughts down quickly.