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Published by McNally Editions
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Long out of print, a uniquely intimate portrait of Emily Dickinson written by her niece.
What would it be like to have Emily Dickinson as your babysitter? In this astonishing memoir, out of print for almost a century, Martha “Matty” Dickinson describes the childhood she spent next door to—and often in the care of—her Aunt Emily. We see Matty as a little girl, hiding from the other grownups in Emily’s upstairs rooms, helping Emily in the kitchen, venturing with her into the cellar for the gingerbread she wasn’t supposed to have. As Matty becomes a teenager, she finds a confidante in her aunt, who is fascinated by the latest youth fads, school gossip, and the recurring question of what to wear to a party (“her ‘vote’ was for my highest-heeled red slippers”)—not to mention the music, novels, and poems she and Matty both love. From an early age, Emily teaches Matty the joys of solitude and independence: “No one,” Emily said, “could ever punish a Dickinson by shutting her up alone.” First published in 1932, this is the most intimate record we have of Emily Dickinson, whose death sparked a long family struggle over her work and her image. In a foreword to this new edition, the poet and critic Anthony Madrid provides a biographical frame for Matty’s recollections, and explains how such a remarkable document could spend so long out of sight.
What would it be like to have Emily Dickinson as your babysitter? In this astonishing memoir, out of print for almost a century, Martha “Matty” Dickinson describes the childhood she spent next door to—and often in the care of—her Aunt Emily. We see Matty as a little girl, hiding from the other grownups in Emily’s upstairs rooms, helping Emily in the kitchen, venturing with her into the cellar for the gingerbread she wasn’t supposed to have. As Matty becomes a teenager, she finds a confidante in her aunt, who is fascinated by the latest youth fads, school gossip, and the recurring question of what to wear to a party (“her ‘vote’ was for my highest-heeled red slippers”)—not to mention the music, novels, and poems she and Matty both love. From an early age, Emily teaches Matty the joys of solitude and independence: “No one,” Emily said, “could ever punish a Dickinson by shutting her up alone.” First published in 1932, this is the most intimate record we have of Emily Dickinson, whose death sparked a long family struggle over her work and her image. In a foreword to this new edition, the poet and critic Anthony Madrid provides a biographical frame for Matty’s recollections, and explains how such a remarkable document could spend so long out of sight.
Product Details
- Publisher: McNally Editions (April 11, 2023)
- Length: 112 pages
- ISBN13: 9781946022592
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Raves and Reviews
"Emily Dickinson springs to life in this remarkable, long-out-of-print biography written by her niece. The daughter of Dickinson’s older brother, Bianchi enchants immediately . . . Though millions of pages have been written about Dickinson, as poet Anthony Madrid notes in the book’s foreword, few have provided such a thrilling close-up portrait. Readers will be rapt from the first page."
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Here, the famously reclusive poet is depicted in her most intimate light—a treasured relative of an awestruck niece. Though written when Bianchi (1866-1943) was in her 60s, the author’s recollections remain fresh with whimsy . . . Emily Dickinson appears here as an almost mythical, magical figure in her niece’s life."
– Angelina Torre, Wall Street Journal
“Written by Emily Dickinson’s niece, this memoir—out of print for nearly a century—offers a more intimate side of the poet, from anecdotes detailing her secretly handing out sweets to her interest in the latest gossip, fashions and books.”
– New York Times Book Review
“With charming anecdotes and moments vividly recalled, Bianchi’s thoughtful account offers the rarest of first-hand glimpses behind Dickinson’s swiftly drawn curtain, conveyed in searching and graceful prose worthy of its subject.”
– David Wright, Library Journal
“For Bianchi, Dickinson was not merely a magical and beloved aunt but also a metric for her own evolution. She assessed her maturation by the nuance with which she perceives the poet . . . Her affectionate proximity to Dickinson—a proximity Todd did not share—must influence one’s reading of Emily Dickinson Face to Face. If Bianchi, too, mythologized her aunt, it is nonetheless a mythology spun from lived interactions with the woman at their center.”
– Rachel Vorona Cote, Poetry
"What makes this little memoir extraordinary, even unique, in all the millions of pages written about Dickinson is its intimacy . . . Say the memoirist, later known as Martha Dickinson Bianchi (we’ll call her Mattie), was four and Emily Dickinson (ED) was forty, that means Mattie knew ED, more or less continuously, through the last fifteen years of ED’s life. 'Knew'? She probably cuddled with her. Gotta be only six or seven people in the history of the universe who cuddled with Emily Dickinson, and only one who gives us a child’s-eye view of ED with other grownups."
– Anthony Madrid, from the Foreword
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): Emily Dickinson Face to Face eBook 9781946022592
