R. W. Franklin was Director of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. He received the Emily Dickinson International Society’s Award for Outstanding Contribution.
I think there will be a wide agreement regarding most of Franklin’s
editorial decisions. He states his principles clearly and does not
conceal his uncertainties (about the dating of individual poems,
for example). He is deeply respectful of Dickinson’s writing
practices, following her often erratic spelling and, ‘within the
capacity of standard type,’ her capitalization and punctuation. His
textual apparatus is informative without being intrusive, and
includes such useful information as where Dickinson broke her lines
on her manuscript sheets, as well as any other information—pinned
attachments, tears in the paper, and the like—that might have a
bearing on interpretation. All scholars and readers of Dickinson
are in his debt.
*New York Review of Books*
The poems of Emily Dickinson speak to an amazingly wide range of
readers… Dickinson wrote more than 1,700 poems, but only a few were
published in her lifetime. The first substantive scholarly
collection of her work was Thomas H. Johnson’s edition in 1955.
That edition is now superseded by this three-volume variorum
edition by Ralph W. Franklin, director of the Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscripts Library at Yale. Not only does this new edition
contain even more poems, but it also gives alternative versions of
the poems, which Dickinson left in her manuscripts. Serious
scholars, students, and teachers will welcome this landmark
edition. But it might also be the perfect…gift for any reader who
loves and wants to continue exploring the endless marvels of her
poetic creations.
*Christian Science Monitor*
Nearly 1,800 poems—only 10 published in her lifetime—occupied
Dickinson during her long, reclusive life; she sent them to friends
and family, changing words as she did so. These changes are noted
in this edition, which brings us into her workshop; indeed, I know
of no better way to get to know this astounding poetry.
*Providence Journal-Bulletin*
Among its valuable new features, Franklin’s variorum gives equal
weight to each surviving version of a poem: Franklin clarifies
Dickinson’s manuscript lineation in his introduction (asserting
that it was ordinarily determined by available space) and provides
a section below each poem to show her original breaks… Step by
step, each of Franklin’s books and articles has defined and pointed
the way to solving the ‘impossible’ task that confronts an editor
attempting to transform into print manuscript poems and letters not
prepared by the author for publication. Ralph W. Franklin has met
that challenge. He is our indispensable guide to Dickinson’s
legacy.
*Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin*
This new edition is a staggering feat of editorial scholarship and
discipline, and a colossal, indispensable achievement in Dickinson
studies.
*Georgia Review*
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