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These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson Audiobook
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An engaging, intimate portrait of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s greatest and most-mythologized poets, that sheds new light on her groundbreaking poetry
On August 3, 1845, young Emily Dickinson declared, “All things are ready” and with this resolute statement, her life as a poet began. Despite spending her days almost entirely “at home” (the occupation listed on her death certificate), Dickinson’s interior world was extraordinary. She loved passionately, was hesitant about publication, embraced seclusion, and created 1,789 poems that she tucked into a dresser drawer.
In These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann unravels the mysteries of Dickinson’s life through ten decisive episodes that distill her evolution as a poet. Ackmann follows Dickinson through her religious crisis while a student at Mount Holyoke, which prefigured her lifelong ambivalence toward organized religion and her deep, private spirituality. We see the poet through her exhilarating frenzy of composition, through which we come to understand her fiercely self-critical eye and her relationship with sister-in-law and first reader, Susan Dickinson. Contrary to her reputation as a recluse, Dickinson makes the startling decision to ask a famous editor for advice, writes anguished letters to an unidentified “Master,” and keeps up a lifelong friendship with writer Helen Hunt Jackson. At the peak of her literary productivity, she is seized with despair in confronting possible blindness.
Utilizing thousands of archival letters and poems as well as never-before-seen photos, These Fevered Days constructs a remarkable map of Emily Dickinson’s inner life. Together, these ten days provide new insights into her wildly original poetry and render a concise and vivid portrait of American literature’s most enigmatic figure
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“Reminds us that what’s important about Emily Dickinson is that she wrote some of the greatest poetry in the English language.”
— Boston Globe
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“The Emily Dickinson who emerges in this vivid, affectionate chronicle is a complex and warm-blooded individual.”
— New Yorker -
“Prose that reads like page-turning fiction.”
— Christian Science Monitor -
“Zeroes in on key episodes in the poet’s life, evoking each with a storyteller’s flair.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“A short, highly readable telling of [Dickinson’s] life and the extraordinary, path-breaking body of work she left behind.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer -
“A set of evocative yet grounded-in-detail essays, each of which recreate one of Emily Dickinson’s days.”
— Arts Fuse -
“A remarkably refreshing account of one of America’s finest poets.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Radiant prose, palpable descriptions, and deep empathy for the poet’s sensibility make this biography extraordinary.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
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About Martha Ackmann
Martha Ackmann, author of These Fevered Days, Curveball, and The Mercury 13, writes about women who have changed America. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and has taught a popular seminar on Emily Dickinson at Mount Holyoke College.