Materials . . .

Alfred Habegger on My Wars Are Laid Away in Books

We are reading Alfred Habegger's 2001 literary biography of Emily Dickinson, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson, in this fall's Dickinson and Whitman seminar. WGBH of Boston has this page with links to audio and video streams (RealPlayer required) of Habegger speaking about the book and answering questions about Dickinson. The event was taped on Wednesday, October 29, 2002, for the Cambridge Forum series. Whenever you read a big scholarly book like this, it's always a good idea to spend some time reading about the book and, whenever possible, listening to the author talk about the book as well. So ... I recommend that all Dickinson and Whitman students find the time to sit in on Dr. Habegger's archived talk.

Fifteenth-century chickens

Here is an AP report on the findings of research that describes and dates some chicken bones found in Chile. These chickens suggest Polynesians landed in South America many decades before Columbus made his 1492 voyage of discovery.

Researchers led by Alice Storey at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, report finding evidence that may ruffle some scholarly feathers. They found chicken bones of Polynesian origin at a site in what is now Chile.

Radiocarbon dating of chicken bones at the site on the Arauco Peninsula in south central Chile indicated a range of A.D. 1321 to 1407, well before the Spanish arrival in the Americas.

Like the work of Charles C. Mann, this study illustrates how little we know about the early history of the Americas. The story is always changing.