Emily Dickinson's Poetic Practices in 19th-Century Contexts

FAIN: FB-52346-06

Melanie Anne Hubbard
University of Tampa (Tampa, FL 33606-1450)

My project combines both the formal analysis of Dickinson’s material texts and cultural historical analysis of practices in her time to suggest that Dickinson’s work is a profound challenge to our understanding of what reading and writing are. The historical work I do is not merely to situate or contextualize Dickinson, but to insist that Dickinson uses the cultural practices and available technologies in manuscript and print to explore or redefine what is called ‘literature.’