EMILY DICKINSON AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING

The book 'Emily Dickinson And The Search For Meaning' examines her place in the context of American literature of the time and her questing exploration of the internal world of spirit and intellect. After taking the reader through the days of her life and quaint relationships she had had, the book attempts to evaluate the complex symbolism of her poems and her unique interpretation of her poetic device of 'circumference'. Circumference, for Emily Dickinson, meant a host of complex interpretations, but is also death - the transitional point between the familiar world and immortality. Based on a doctoral thesis, this book explores the subject of her life-long search for meaning: it tries to comprehend the intricate metaphysical philosophy that she developed in her life time, symbolised by her fascination with all things spherical, and termed in her own language as circumference. She consciously strove to disrupt the natural flow of the literary tide of the day and create a new idiom, syntax and vision, perhaps arising from her deliberate self-exclusion from society. The view of the world from her window, from the window of her heart, presents today a marvellous, intriguing and radically new perspective which entices every reader to seek to know more about her and her life. The book is based on a doctoral thesis of Dr CK Mathew.