누가 에밀리 디킨슨을 소유할 수 있는가?: 『앨리슨의 집』과 『에밀리 디킨슨은 죽었다』에 나타난 등장인물의 수용 양상

Abstract

Emily Dickinson is one of the most mystified women poets, and her image and poetry haunt readers’ imagination, which leads to varying and even contradictory interpretations. These critical responses, however, have mainly concentrated on the poet and the text as the objects of analysis. This study aims to read through two women writers’ works on Dickinson, and shifting the critical focus toward characters’ diverse responses to Dickinson. This paper examines their reception of Dickinson through Susan Glaspell’s play, Alison’s House, and Jane Langton’s mystery novel, Emily Dickinson Is Dead, and analyzes the types of diverse characters. While examining the characters’ attitudes toward Dickinson and her work, this study critiques the limitations and the negative effects of readers’ ownership of Dickinson, and anticipates the possibilities of Dickinson’s positive and constructive readership. Dealing with a play and a novel about Dickinson, this study traverses over the boundaries of different genres, and explores the question, “who can really own Dickinson?”