Materials . . .

Thomas Wentworth Higginson's Letter to a Young Contributor (1862)

Alfred Habegger's discussion of this important essay begins on page 451 of My Wars.

Martha Nell Smith transcribed and made available this text here at emilydickinson.org.

Dinah Craik's Head of the Family (1858)

This fall, in the Dickinson & Whitman seminar, we'll read selected primary texts that figure in the biographies of the poets. As I round these up this summer, I will post links to the readings that I find online.

Alfred Habegger discusses Emily Dickinson's reading of Dinah Craik's antebellum novel, Head of the Family, on page 248 (and elsewhere, see index) of My Wars are Laid Away in Books. This is creepy stuff. Habegger argues that the novel might illuminate her "wife" poems as well as her relationship with the man she called "Master." We'll read some of this novel this fall. Send me an email if you find a good part worth discussion.

Google Books now offers a head-spinning collection of antebellum primary texts online in PDF format. Here is Dinah Craik's Head of the Family.