Major Women Authors, 1700-1900: Emily Dickinson and Film

Emily Dickinson wrote an astonishing number of poems--almost 1,800 of them, in fact. Only a very small number of these poems were published when she was alive; hundreds upon hundreds more were not, as her sister Lavinia discovered once Dickinson died. As more and more of Dickinson's poems were printed for the public in the years that followed her death, curiosity about her life also grew: Who was this poet who spent so much time in her room, writing poem after poem after poem? What inspired her to write so voluminously? Why was she not more widely known when she was alive? While academic scholarship has provided answers to these questions to a large extent, film and television adaptations have sought to bring Dickinson to life in new ways for audiences.

In this class, we will explore Dickinson's poetry and focus on three adaptations of her life and work: A Quiet Passion, directed by Terence Davies (2016); Wild Nights with Emily, directed by Madeleine Olnek (2018); and Dickinson, the Apple TV series created by Alena Smith (2019-2021). We will compare these adaptations to primary historical materials from Dickinson's life, and we will investigate how elements of these adaptations take inspiration from Dickinson's poetic practice. Questions we will consider in this course include, but are not limited to: In what ways does Dickinson continue to live on through adaptation in our present moment? What are the possibilities and limitations of adaptation? How can investigating adaptations of Dickinson help us to better understand the relationship between the past and the present? Active in-class participation in discussions and activities will be a crucial component of your grade in this class, and assignments will include a creative notebook project, short in-class reflection essays, and a final project presentation.