The Slanted Life of Emily Dickinson: America's Favorite Recluse Just Got a Life!

By Rosanna Bruno

Emily Dickinson said: “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” Artist Rosanna Bruno does just as the poet asked in a series of several dozen witty, hand-drawn cartoons inspired by what we know--and don’t know--about Dickinson’s life and work. The Slanted Life of Emily Dickinson explores--often hilariously, and always respectfully--the myth surrounding the reclusive poet using her own words to skew, or slant, a story that is already somewhat fuzzy in detail.

Beginning with a line or two from Dickinson’s poems or letters, Rosanna Bruno presents an image of a real or imagined event. For example, she imagines Dickinson’s Facebook page (“Relationship Status: It’s Complicated”), her OkCupid dating profile (“I am small, like the wren; and my hair is bold, like the chestnut burr…”), her senior yearbook page (“Girl Most Likely to Talk to Birds”), and several other hilarious scenes and fictional artifacts. The result is a wickedly funny portrait of one of the most beloved (and mythologized) poets in the American canon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Release date: Mar 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781449485757

Rosanna Bruno

Rosanna Bruno is a visual artist and based in New York, where she makes paintings, comics, and – sometimes – a mess. She received a New York Foundation for the Arts grant in 2012. Her paintings have been exhibited internationally, and her cartoons have been published in BOMB magazine and featured in The Daily Beast and The Toast, among other publications. Her first book, The Slanted Life of Emily Dickinson (Andrews McMeel, 2017), is a book of cartoons based on the myth of her life. Her second is The Trojan Women (Bloodaxe Books, 2021), a comic book reimagining of Euripides’ tragedy with texts by Anne Carson.

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