Dickinson and Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was Emily Dickinson’s favorite writer and her letters abound with references to him and his works. Dickinson’s allusions to Shakespeare’s writings evidence his pervasive presence in her life but also signal his ubiquitous place in her culture.

In collaboration with the Emily Dickinson Museum, the 2020 EDIS Annual Meeting will be held July 31 to August 1 in Amherst. This year’s focus is Dickinson’s great love of Shakespeare and this theme will shape the usual features of our Annual Meetings such as reading groups, tours of the Dickinson Museum, performances, readings, seminar-style discussions, and talks.

We welcome papers that discuss any aspects of Dickinson’s reading of or response to Shakespeare, or that compare Dickinson’s and Shakespeare’s writings. We are also interested in papers that consider Shakespeare’s place in Dickinson’s society and literary culture, and especially his place in 19th century popular culture, theater, education and print culture. We also welcome papers that examine how Dickinson’s contemporaries engaged with Shakespeare.

We hope that the topic of Shakespeare provides a generative way of approaching Dickinson and offers many opportunities for participants, especially postgraduate students and early career academics, to consider this topic across disciplines.

Please send abstracts (300 words), with a short bio (100 words), to Adeline Chevrier-Bosseau (achevrier.bosseau@gmail.com) and Páraic Finnerty (paraic.finnerty@port.ac.uk) by 31 January, 2020.