Hiromi Ito, Michael Jackson, Emily Dickinson

Here's a review of Killing Kanoko.

*

Here's Monica Mody's take on Michael Jackson's androgyny

*

A new biography of Emily Dickinson argues that she suffered from epilepsy, based on the medical records, and that this explains not just her reclusiveness (it was considered a big embarrassment for women) but also her poetry:

"Her violent images, the "spasmodic" rhythms Higginson deplored, and the sheer volume of her output show that she coped inventively with gunshots from the brain into the body. She turned an explosive sickness into well-aimed art: scenes with "Revolver" and "Gun". Contained in her own domestic order, protected by her father and sister, Dickinson saved herself from the anarchy of her condition and put it to use."

This makes total sense to me - both in the sense of "spasmodic" rhythms and "syncope" (Clement). I've got to read this whole biography.