Mr. Emerson's Wife

by Amy Belding Brown

  For the factual record of the life of this brilliant and remarkable woman who influenced America’s most influential literary figure, the reader should turn to the scholarship of Delores Bird Carpenter and the collected letters of Ellen Tucker Emerson.

  Acknowledgments

  The life of Lidian Jackson Emerson, shrouded to the point of obscurity in many biographies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, has been made accessible to the public primarily through the scholarship of Delores Bird Carpenter. Her extensive work in editing and commenting on Lidian Jackson Emerson by Ellen Tucker Emerson and The Selected Letters of Lidian Jackson Emerson has been an indispensable resource in writing this book. I’ve also drawn from many other sources, including The Letters of Ellen Tucker Emerson, edited by Edith E. W. Gregg; Carlos Baker’s Emerson Among the Eccentrics; Raymond R. Borst’s The Thoreau Log; Joel Porte’s Emerson in His Journals; Henry Seidel Canby’s biography, Thoreau; and the work of Phyllis Cole, including Mary Moody Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism.

  I am particularly indebted to Gary Robertson. His questions first led me to Lidian’s doorstep, and his friendship and interest have sustained me through the long research and writing process. My deep appreciation goes to Wallace Kaufman, for his generous encouragement, penetrating comments, and poetic sensibilities; to Bret Lott, for showing me how to shape a novel from the particulars of history; and to Victoria Redel, for her insights and enthusiasm for Lidian’s story. Continued and warm thanks to Susan Ramer, my untiring and understanding agent; to Jennifer Weis, my editor at St. Martin’s Press, whose interest in my work has spanned a decade; and to her assistant, Stefanie Lind-skog, who so promptly and graciously answered my many questions.

  I reserve my deepest gratitude for my husband and children, whose devotion, patience, and love have made this book possible.

  A Reading Group Guide

  1. What is the significance of the fact that Lidian always addresses her husband as “Mr. Emerson”? When and why does she finally address him as “Waldo”?

  2. Lidian asserts that a “marriage of opposites” is a good thing because it perfects an individual by balancing strengths and weaknesses. In what ways do you think Lidian and Mr. Emerson balance each other? Do you think Lidian’s marriage proved her theory?

  3. How do you think Lidian contributes to the strains in her marriage? Was marriage itself important to Lidian—or only marriage to Emerson?

  4. How did Lidian’s experiences with her parents later shape her outlook and decisions?

  5. What role does guilt play in this novel? What actions does Lidian take that she regrets? What does she do to find forgiveness? Does she ever forgive herself for her imperfections?

  6. In what ways does death overshadow the Emersons’ marriage? Is marriage a symbol of life or death in this novel?

  7. The “double” motif of the novel—two baptisms, two names, two loves—points to Lidian’s deep inner conflicts. How does her religious faith complicate those conflicts?

  8. Lidian reflects on how strange it is that “the love of another man was the very glue that bound me to my husband.” How did Lidian’s relationship with Henry bind her to Mr. Emerson?

  9. Lidian moves from jealousy to resigned acceptance of her husband’s undying love for his first wife. Lidian even states that she has “fallen in love” with Ellen. What does she mean by this?

  10. What are some of the losses that Lidian suffers, both human and psychological? How do those losses impact her relationship with her husband?

  11. In what ways does Lidian retain her moral authority throughout the novel, in spite of her transgressions?

  MR. EMERSON’S WIFE. Copyright © 2005 by Amy Belding Brown. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  The text of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s letter to Lydia Jackson (bMS Am 1280.220 [2]) and the manuscript material by Ellen Louisa Tucker (bMS Am 1280.220 [23 and 127]) are published by permission of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association.

  www.stmartins.com

  eISBN 9781466809284

  First eBook Edition : January 2012

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Brown, Amy Belding.

  Mr. Emerson’s wife / by Amy Belding Brown.

  p. cm.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33638-7

  ISBN-10: 0-312-33637-3 (hc)

  ISBN-10: 0-312-33638-1 (pbk)

  1. Emerson, Lidian Jackson, 1802 – 1892—Fiction. 2. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803—1882—Fiction. 3. Authors’ spouses—Fiction. 4. Married women—Fiction. 5. Feminist fiction. 6. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

  PS3552.R6839M7 2005

  813’.54—dc22

  2004023940