‘Dickinson and the Violets’: the personification of the mystery

The journalist Jesús Marchamalo and the illustrator Antonio Santos build in Dickinson and Violets A bittersweet story, as the life of the writer who speaks to us. The biography moves us to the life of one of the greatest figures of American literature. He wrote his work when the newly independent country begged that his great poet will arrive. They cried for a man who broke completely with the English poetic tradition. However, the one that surprised overwhelmingly with each of his compositions was a “she”: Emily Dickinson.

Spectrum, ghost, enigma, there are many words with which Marchamalo refers to the mystery surrounding Dickinson. He did not sign any of the poems he published in life. Although much of the book illustrations stand out that Dickinson did have orna own roomanonymity did not transcend. The norms separated women from success outside domesticity and the author did not represent the exception. In spite of everything, just composing almost 1,800 poems already got a lot and time would take her to the place she deserved.

The battle for freedom

The writer is right in his Descriptions of the suffocating family and religious atmosphere that surrounded Dickinson, and how she adapted to the circumstances. It moves us to a town dominated by the belief that souls were predestined or not to go to heaven from before reaching the earth. Where Dickinson, belonging to the group of “hopeless” in his church, struggled for his freedom with small actions.

Freedom to live the spirituality in its own way, to love From distance, but always with intensity, and to enjoy the curiosities that he could contemplate, from the tiny world in which he had to develop. Of special eloquence is to finish the chapters portraying these baits. What chopped the curiosity of the poet at the time, now serve to attract the reader. Joyful and intimate, the fragments contribute to the accurate rhythm with which the events occur in the work.

Just 48 pages and Marchamalo says he has written Dickinson’s most extensive biography in Spanish. The series that Apple TV dedicated to the writer in 2019 invented much of its history. Both work have faced the same problem. We know very little for sure about the poet. And how much its mystery fascinates us! Marchamalo admitted that he failed to reveal the enigma around Dickinson completely. Something that now sees as positive. And he is right, the best thing about the book is that he respects that Dickinson’s story, like his poems, wins with ambiguity. Because, as he explains Shaelin Bishopthere are mysteries so irresistible that knowing your response would only cause dissatisfaction.

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