Letter to the Editor

22 November 1992

Letter to the Editor:

I write to set the record straight, for I am surprised that I was not asked if Paula Bennett had indeed been "denied permission to cite" my work before her assertion was printed and disseminated to international audiences (in "'By a Mouth That Cannot Speak': Spectral Presence in Emily Dickinson's Letters," The Emily Dickinson Journal 1.2 (1992): 97n6). Anyone familiar with my work will easily understand why I take this as a very serious charge, for my highest ambition is that my scholarly writings will be generative. At the outset, I want to make clear to international scholars, especially those receiving The Emily Dickinson Journal, that neither I nor any publishing agency acting in my interests has denied anyone permission to quote from my articles, reviews, and books, and that 1 have never denied anyone permission to quote from a lecture or a paper delivered at a conference.

One of my main points in Rowing in Eden: Rereading Emily Dickinson (Univ. of Texas Press 1992) is that Emily Dickinson's literary work is both collaborative and generative. The poet's texts demand readers' collaborations (e.g., in choosing how to interpret variants and how to regard unusual holograph techniques). I also argue that some of Dickinson's poems were produced in collaboration with Sue Dickinson, with whom she participated in what I call a "Poetry Workshop," the importance of which has been lost to the first century of Dickinson scholarship. Thus I believe that sharing is at the heart of important literary and scholarly enterprise, and I have taken care to share my thinking on Dickinson via my lectures, conference presentations, and published writings.

Paula Bennett, like any other writer, can quote from my printed works concerning Emily Dickinson, almost all of which speak in various ways to the "tremendous importance of Dickinson's manuscript art" that Prof. Bennett says I "first" brought to her attention. I do not presume to know why Prof. Bennett would not want to include any of these in the "Works Cited" for her article; however, that permission to quote from them is available to her is obvious by the fact that she paraphrases part of my early argument about the editing of Dickinson and refers to my article "To Fill a Gap" on p. 10 and in footnote 18 of the "Introduction" to Emily Dickinson: Woman Poet (her 1990 book).

Let me add that numerous scholars over the years have requested copies of and permission to quote from my conference papers and lectures, and that a few months ago Prof. Jeanne Holland requested permission to quote from the galleys of Rowing in Eden. In all those instances, I have been happy to grant their requests.

Because this false allegation of being denied permission to quote from my work has been printed without qualification, I must respectfully request that you print this letter in the next number of The Emily Dickinson Journal. Your prompt attention to this matter will be much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Martha Nell Smith

Associate Professor & Associate Director of Graduate Studies

University of Maryland at College Park