• “Emily Dickinson, Jenny Lind, and Rural Nineteenth-Century Fandom,” Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History.

    Author(s):
    Gerard Holmes (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Subject(s):
    Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886, Music, Subculture, Fans (Persons), Rural conditions, History
    Item Type:
    Essay
    Tag(s):
    Reception, Emily Dickinson, Fandom, Rural history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/b3qv-ya82
    Abstract:
    Although Emily Dickinson’s papers were preserved because of her place in literary history, not her musical knowledge, her engagement with music provides an opportunity to consider pre-twentieth-century fandom. New technologies and established social networks enabled fandom for a young rural woman. For this population more than male and urban audiences, fandom carried social danger, involving not only enthusiasm but discernment and even skepticism. The marketing of Jenny Lind’s mid-nineteenth-century tour depended on crafting a public image of the singer as virtuous and philanthropic. Dickinson’s letter describing a Lind concert in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1851 critiques this image, transmitted into rural settings by local newspapers. Instead of the enthusiasm of indiscriminate audiences, Dickinson articulates a rurally inflected, judicious, self-selecting “Yankee” fandom.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. Date:
    2020
    Journal:
    Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History
    Volume:
    12
    Page Range:
    38 - 53
    ISSN:
    21680604
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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