Whitman and Dickinson

Abstract

There was a continued surge in Whitman-related publications in the year after the 150th anniversary of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, in the form of three scholarly monographs, a large collection of topical essays, an edited collection of writings from Horace Traubel’s Conservator, an encyclopedic companion to Whitman, a special issue of the Revue Francaise ďEtudes Americaines, and more than a dozen articles and book chapters, in addition to the many articles and notes published regularly in the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. The Walt Whitman Archive completed the digitization of five volumes of Horace Traubel’s With Walt Whitman in Camden, among many other improvements and expansions to the site. Scholarship on Whitman continues to emphasize historical and cultural approaches, including substantial publications on Whitman and the visual arts, his class position and sexuality, the publi cation history of his works, and his reception and influence, particularly in transnational contexts. It was also a productive year in Dickinson scholarship, distinguished by two important new books, Paraic Finnerty’s Emily Dickinson’s Shakespeare and Thomas Gardner’s A Door Ajar: Contemporary Writers and Emily Dickinson; an issue of ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance devoted entirely to Dickinson; and a special issue of the Emily Dickinson Journal containing comments from seventeen important poets. Manuscript study continues to be of interest, and research into Dick inson’s treatment of nature and her contributions to ecocriticism is expanding.