'Wild Nights' With Emily Dickinson's Archive

Seth Perlow contributes an article to Los Angeles Review of Books demystifying the complicated nature of Emily Dickinson's archive. Citing the recent Emily Dickinson biopic, Wild Nights With Emily, as an example, Perlow remarks that it's "easy to miss the real scandal in Wild Nights with Emily, the recent Emily Dickinson biopic written and directed by Madeleine Olnek." More from there: 

The movie focuses on Dickinson’s romance with her sister-in-law and next-door neighbor, Susan. Evidence of this romance was suppressed after Emily’s death — due to jealousy, homophobia, and fear of scandal. Of course, most people do not keep written records of their sexual activities, making it hard to prove who did what with whom, but the poet shared more of her work with Susan than anyone else, and an intense romantic connection is evident in their letters. Scholars have acknowledged their romance for decades, thanks largely to Dickinson critic Martha Nell Smith, to whom Wild Nights is dedicated.

For her part, Olnek does not treat the relationship between Emily and Susan Dickinson as a dark secret. In a talkback after the screening I attended, Smith called Wild Nights a “serious comedy,” and indeed, it brims with laughter and wit. Olnek’s film at last gives publicity to this most important relationship in Emily Dickinson’s life. Its humor also gestures toward the often overlooked fact that her poetry can be quite funny.

The real Dickinson scandal appears only at the margins of Wild Nights with Emily, at the start and at the end. The movie begins with a disclaimer: “The poems and letters of Emily Dickinson are used in this film with permission of Harvard University Press.” But why does anyone need permission from Harvard to make a movie about Emily Dickinson? The answer involves theft, adulterous affairs, a land deal gone wrong, a feud between families, two elite colleges, and some of the most famous poems in American literature.

Learn more at LARB.