The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson

The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson
Jerome Charyn
W.W. Norton, 2010. 348 pgs Fiction

Remember the beloved American poet who told us to “tell all the truth, but tell it slant?” If the lines intrigue you, you’ll want to take a look at The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson. It’s a topsy-turvy, bizarre experience that borders on the brilliant.

In this novel, the life of the beloved poet begins at Holyoke, a finishing school of sorts, run by devilish nuns and vengeful school chums. With an all-powerful Pa-pa and a secret crush on the orphaned, handyman Tom, Emily is just beginning to find her way with words. She’s surrounded by the myriad constellations of her family, schoolmates and her various love interests and the last are perhaps the most interesting as Emily never married.

It's a blending of fact and fiction and the writing is mesmeric, Charyn’s prose reading like poetry—apropos for a work inventing a new life for this poetess. From Tom the handyman’s mouth, Charyn writes of Emily, “You were born with words, and Zilpah had to scream and sweat to put them in her mouth.” And if that isn’t enough to attract you, perhaps Emily’s own self-effacing verse, “I’m nobody! Who are you?” will entice you to learn (or fantasize) along with Charyn and the rest of us regarding just who this tiny wordsmith could have been. Charyn's being heralded as the next literary genius so take look and see if you agree.