These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann
These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann
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These Fevered Days
Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson

Author: Martha Ackmann

Narrator: Martha Ackmann

Unabridged: 9 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/10/2020


Synopsis

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 selfcritical eye and her relationship with her 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

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on February 25, 2020

In her Author's Note, Martha Ackmann tells of her first encounter with Emily Dickinson's poetry in high school English when she read, "After great pain, a formal feeling comes--"* Ackmann said she "woke up" and spent a lifetime trying to understand the poem and its effect on her. It's one of my favo......more

Goodreads review by James on January 23, 2022

There are many books about Emily Dickinson: biographies, collections of her poetry, collections of poetry inspired by her, novels about her, critical appraisals of her work. Most of them are comprehensive, all-inclusive, especially the biographies. Perhaps some of the best, though, are those which s......more

Goodreads review by Moonkiszt on November 02, 2024

Martha Ackmann delivers what she promises in These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson, by choosing ten known moments in Emily's life that influenced her direction, and the path she followed writing all along the way. These considerations of certain landmark happen......more

Goodreads review by Tanya on December 28, 2020

Very good! As a follower of Emily Dickinson's poetry, this was a great insight into inspiration behind some of her verse as paired with "pivotal" moments in her life. Each chapter highlighted a specific time, event or person and the author did a researched and well-done job at developing more. There......more

Goodreads review by Derek on August 26, 2022

The book bored me. It purports to be a series of discrete moments rather than a conventional biography. However, it feels like a conventional biography. Zen riddle: Was the author boring, or was it Emily Dickinson who was boring ? Or was it the reader who was boring? All three? In any case, the book......more