Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Full Version: Story about forged Emily Dickinson poem.
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This is a 13-year-old story by now, but it's fascinating, and I have a feeling a lot of you will find it as interesting as I did.

The impersonation of Emily: Part 1, Part 2.
Thanks for posting this. I remember when the story came out. It shook the Mormon church to its core. Hoffman would use blank frontice pages from period books to create forgeries.
This is an amazing story. Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed reading about it. What an awful man Hoffman is.
You're welcome.

Having both the Johnson and Franklin reading editions of Dickinson's poetry, both of which I have spent a great deal of time with, I think Hoffman wrote a very good imitation of an Emily Dickinson poem.
That is a chilling story from beginning to end. Smart, personable people with no conscience are all too prevalent.

The poem is good, but maybe a little too straightforward for Emily. And I would question her having written such a poem for her ten-year-old nephew.
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