"Theatricals of Day"

Runzo has written a marvelous account of Dickinson's firsthand knowledge of mid-nineteenth-century popular culture, with deft attention to ways that such knowledge is reflected in multiple poems and how it matters to our understanding of the poems and the poet.'—Cristanne Miller, author of Reading in Time: Emily Dickinson in the Nineteenth Century

'Dickinson and popular culture is a great topic and a comparatively neglected one. Runzo's book is a welcome addition to our understanding of the poet in her time and of the popular entertainments that shaped 'ordinary life.''—Vivian R. Pollak, editor of A Historical Guide to Emily Dickinson

'The story of Emily Dickinson remains consistently compelling and mysterious, but it is now made even more vivid, tangible, and animated through Sandra Runzo's Theatricals of Day. Her book is comprehensive, thorough, and inclusive in its sweep, form, and story. There is something here for everyone, and Runzo's ability to be both accessible and probing means that her book will reach a wide audience and should be a welcome addition to any home or library collection.'—Emily Dickinson Journal

'Runzo vividly chronicles the spectacles that dazzled and unsettled crowds across nineteenth-century America . . . [A] compelling study of Dickinson's engagement with the American popular culture of her era.'—Women's Studies

'[Runzo's] explorations of nineteenth-century circuses, menageries, popular music, minstrel shows, exhibitions, and 'haunted tales' not only illuminate the poetry but are also fascinating in their own right . . . Her book provides richly and sensually grounded readings of key phrases that bring before her readers' minds their emotionally and historically rich contexts.'—American Literature