Lives Like Loaded Guns by Lyndall Gordon
Though in her lifetime only ten of Emily Dickinson's poems were published, her death revealed 1,789 poems, many of them in hand-sewn booklets, secreted in a locked chest. She is now regarded as one of the greatest poets of all time, but she has come down to us as a woman disappointed in love, an odd and pathetic woman who dressed in white and shut herself away. Lyndall Gordon sees instead her volcanic character - 'a soul at White Heat' - a mystic and lover whose family harboured a hothouse drama of sex, scandal and devastating betrayal. Emily Dickinson was a woman beyond her time who found love, spiritual quickening and immortality all on her own terms: she wrote 'My Life had Stood - a Loaded Gun'. Here is an explosive genius.
** 'This book is unforcedly and powerfully original - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH** 'Gordon takes the lid off the violent emotional life of the Dickinson family and its far-reaching effects on the poet's workWhat she exposes is a seething Peyton Place of adultery, betrayal and lifelong feuding. Lyndall Gordon has opened the way to - LITERARY REVIEW** 'Gordon makes this story venomous, thrilling, shocking, impassioned and sometimes darkly farcical. The myth is Saint Emily. Gordon reveals the sarcastic, sexual, sophisticated, self-assured woman . . . Gordon's book makes you read Dickinson again with polished eyes: expect it on the prize lists soon - SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY** 'As Gordon tells it, this story of the terrible fascination Dickinson exerted on her heirs is as rich as a novel by Henry James. There is the same complexity of motives, the same grim comedy . . . "Tell the truth but tell it slant" was Dickinson's advi - DAILY TELEGRAPH
Author of the prizewinning biographies ELIOT'S EARLY YEARS, ELIOT'S NEW LIFE and VIRGINIA WOOLF: A WRITER'S LIFE. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Lyndall received her doctorate from Columbia University and is a fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844084531 |
| ISBN 10 | 1844084531 |
| Title | Lives Like Loaded Guns |
| Author | Lyndall Gordon |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 2010-02-04 |
| Number of pages | 512 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |