Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson Book

Considering myself less of a fan of poetry (in general) and more a fan of Emily Dickinson, the person, her thoughts and her life, I was completely enraptured by this piece of scholarly work. The editors' thesis was made plain throughout the book -- Emily and Susan were deeply devoted to one another throughout their lives. They spoke of everyday, emotional, spiritual, and literary matters and even collaborated in editing each others' poetry. The editors note that "in spite of the sheer volume of correspondence between Susan and Emily, and despite compelling evidence of an ongoing literary dialogue between the two women, the relationship between Emily and Susan has been neglected, distorted, and obscured." They posit that this is because of two cultural factors -- the view of the "Poetess" as tortured, delicate, and pining, and then perhaps the fear of mature, same-sex attraction that goes beyond the time's accepted ephemeral girl crush. (I rephrased the second point a bit.) Was Emily Dickinson in love with her brother's wife? We will never know. Conventions and language of the time period aside, I did find many of the letters and letter-poems to be delightfully provocative. Take, for example, this passage from one of the many early letters Emily wrote Susan while Susan was out of town:

"I hope for you so much, and feel so eager for you, feel that I cannot wait, feel that now I must have you -- that the expectation once more to see your face again, makes me feel hot and feverish, and my heart beats so fast -- I go to sleep at night, and the first thing I know, I am sitting there wide awake, and clasping my hands tightly, and thinking of next Saturday, and "never a bit" of you."

Also, as one who doesn't always "get" poetry, it pleased me greatly to read Emily's early correspondence, in which she plainly spelled out her feelings. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions. Allow me to make this review even longer by giving another example from the same letter:

"While the minister this morning was giving an account of the Roman Catholic system, and announcing several facts which were usually startling, I was trying to make up my mind w'h of the two was prettiest to go and welcome you in, my fawn colored dress, or my blue dress. Just as I had decided by all means to wear the blue, down came the minister's fist with a terrible rap on the counter, and Susie, it scared me so, I hav'nt got over it yet, but I'm glad I reached a conclusion!"

Having only limited knowledge about Dickinson's life prior to reading Open Me Carefully, I certainly learned a lot. Maybe she will always be pigeon-holed into the caricature of a brilliant but reclusive spinster by popular culture and even in classrooms, but I'm glad that this book exists for readers who, like me, desire to closely examine the life of a like-minded soul who found freedom of mind in solitude and the written word and who loved so passionately.

Later in their lives, as Emily became more prolific in her poetry-writing, the letters turned into letter-poems. I appreciate that the editors aimed to accurately portray the spacing and line breaks, although I find the thought of Dickinson only ever allowing herself a one-inch margin in which to write kind of hilarious. The fact that the cover of my copy is fading and the photographic insert in the middle of the book was bound completely upside down doesn't diminish my love. Thank you, ladies, for igniting my passion.