The Slanted Life of Emily Dickinson
America's Favorite Recluse Just Got a Life!
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Emily Dickinson said: “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” Artist Rosanna Bruno does just as the poet asked in a series of several dozen witty, hand-drawn cartoons inspired by what we know--and don’t know--about Dickinson’s life and work. The Slanted Life of Emily Dickinson explores--often hilariously, and always respectfully--the myth surrounding the reclusive poet using her own words to skew, or slant, a story that is already somewhat fuzzy in detail.
Beginning with a line or two from Dickinson’s poems or letters, Rosanna Bruno presents an image of a real or imagined event. For example, she imagines Dickinson’s Facebook page (“Relationship Status: It’s Complicated”), her OkCupid dating profile (“I am small, like the wren; and my hair is bold, like the chestnut burr…”), her senior yearbook page (“Girl Most Likely to Talk to Birds”), and several other hilarious scenes and fictional artifacts. The result is a wickedly funny portrait of one of the most beloved (and mythologized) poets in the American canon.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historians and poetry lovers have long been intrigued by the daily life barely glimpsed in Emily Dickinson's poems and letters, with many academic works speculating about this renowned recluse. Bruno's debut has gone one step farther, imagining a whole invented life for a modern-day Emily, including Facebook and Instagram accounts, list of favorite apps, and an OkCupid page. Themed chapters focus on subjects such as nature and death, but nearly each page contains a standalone gag. Drawn in a scratchy, hurried line, these strips will strike the reader as either charming or sloppy. In particular, the hand-lettering can be hard to read. Anyone who has ever wondered how Dickinson would have done as an agony aunt, or what song she might have chosen for karaoke, need wonder no more. Bruno has come up with witty answers for these and many other questions.
