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for Emily Dickinson “holy chamber, wrestler and wrestled for” for giving us all a chance
To my sister Meg, artist and writer, who, at some cardinal points, has also been a friend;
to my husband and children, for putting up with me;
to my entire family of origin and upbringing, for the years of intense happiness and unhappiness we had together, whose preciousness I have learnt to bear a little better than I once was able;
to Diana, to Luisa, and to Margot, for continuing it, with unstinting kindness and patience;
to my friends Lilla Crisafulli, Gabriella Morisco, and Massimo Bacigalupo; and to the other teachers and scholars whose work, and company, has shown me, indeed, that “Love, like literature, is ‘its exceeding great reward’”
I dedicate the effort put into this.
[the quotations are from Dickinson's Letters 210 and 410, respectively]