The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson's Envelope Poems by Jen Bevin, Marta Werner

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The Gorgeous Nothings -- the first full-color facsimile edition of Emily Dickinson's manuscripts ever to appear -- is a deluxe edition of her late writings, presenting this crucially important, experimental late work exactly as she wrote it on scraps of envelopes. A never-before-possible glimpse into the process of one of our most important poets. The book presents all the envelope writings -- 52 -- reproduced life-size in full color both front and back, with an accompanying transcription to aid in the reading, allowing us to enjoy this little-known but important body of Dickinson's writing. Envisioned by the artist Jen Bervin and made possible by the extensive research of the Dickinson scholar Marta L. Werner, this book offers a new understanding and appreciation of the genius of Emily Dickinson.

This book is a rare gift for all poetry lovers.--Craig Morgan Teicher
Visual poets around the world will soon be mining these endlessly suggestive fragments.--Marjorie Perloff
This book is a testament to the lasting power of Dickinson's work and a new insight into the way her work arose. It's suitably gorgeous production and lyrical accompanying essays make it a treat for the eye and the mind.
The Gorgeous Nothings claims our attention with a new Emily Dickinson. This edition itself is a work of art.--Susan Howe


Arguably America's greatest poet, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) published fewer than a dozen of her eighteen hundred poems during her lifetime.

Jen Bervin's work includes The Dickinson CompositesThe Desert, and Nets.

Marta Werner's books include Emily Dickinson's Open Folios: Scenes of Reading, Surfaces of Writing and Radical Scatters: An Electronic Archive of Emily Dickinson's Late Fragments and Related Texts.

preface by Susan Howe

New Directions Publishing Corp

Pub Date: October 29, 2013

1.22" H x 12.09" L x 9.62" W 

272 pages

hardcover