Dickinson and the Strategies of Reticence

Download or read book Dickinson and the Strategies of Reticence written by Joanne Dobson and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1989-09-22 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rejecting the view that interprets Emily Dickinson exclusively as a proto-modernist poet, Joanne Dobson finds Dickinson rooted in the expressive assumptions of her contemporary women writers. By looking at Dickinson in the context of these writers, Dobson uncovers the effects of common grounding in a cultural ethos of femininity that mandated personal reticence. Combining literary history and contemporary feminist literary theory, this study posits a complex interaction of personal preferences and editorial policies that resulted in a community of expression with impact on women's writing and literary careers.