Brainwave – The Irish Epilepsy Association – Shedding a light on epilepsy

A heated debate among literary scholars has emerged following the publication of a new book which claims poet Emily Dickinson may have had epilepsy. 

The biography entitled "Lives like Loaded Guns, Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds" written by Lyndall Gordon has provoked criticism from other Dickinson scholars and biographers who say there has never been a suggestion let alone evidence that the poets seclusion was due to epilepsy and that this is the first time anyone has hypothesized epilepsy in respect of Dickinson.

In postings on the amazon.co.uk site they dispute this interpretation and the suggestion that it as the stigma around epilepsy which caused her seclusion. As Dickinson's nephew was known to have epilepsy and this was acknowledged in the family and community they say her withdrawal and secrecy is not explained by this. Other scholars have stated that apart from this controversy the book is a worthy addition to the understanding of Dickinson. 

When Dickinson died in 1886 she had written over 1800 poems. A family feud ensued regarding the right to publish these and initial attempts by some of the family to have poems published were unsuccessful possibly due to too strict editing. The poems were eventually published in their original form. A number of these give rise to questions about her health. Emily did not leave home much and some of her poems reflect this and refer to being handicapped though it is not made entirely clear what this might mean. Author Lyndall Gordon of St. Hilda's College Oxford says there may be no way of being certain of this but that if Emily had epilepsy it could explain why she chose to remain to what she called "my father's house" and why she was protected by her father and sister and did not marry.

Here is the extract from the biography giving rise to the theory that Emily had epilepsy "Her handicap or whatever we want to call it was connected with her visionary life. And that was an exultant life. She often suggests that she might have some "handicap". She says in one of her poems My Loss by sickness - Was it Loss?/ Or that Ethereal Gain-One earns by measuring the Grave? Then- measuring the Sun"

She's being ambivalent and truthful about what she calls her sickness because she suffers [.....] but at the same time, there are spiritual gains. "

From "Lives Like Loaded Guns, Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds" By Lyndall Gordon, Published by Viking June 10 2010, ISBN -10 0670021938 

You can follow the debate on amazon.co.uk