The Dickinson Composites is a series of thirty quilts by Jen Bervin depicting the poet Emily Dickinson’s variant marks. Of the forty fascicle packets Dickinson created, the last thirty contain variant markings. Each quilt corresponds to a specific fascicle packet, synthesizing marks from 16-22 handwritten poems Dickinson wrote in folios, stacked, and stab-bound with string.
Similar to hypertext—Dickinson’s experiments with the variants—the enigmatic + signs that direct readers to other possible words or phrases in her poetry manuscripts—surface and grow into a complex, nearly infinite system she uses throughout her life. Despite their ubiquitous presence in the manuscripts, the variant marks, words, and line breaks integral to Dickinson’s poetics continue to be omitted in posthumous print editions.
These works are based on Dickinson’s works published in Ralph Franklin’s facsimile edition, The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson. The machine-sewn rules on the cotton batting backed with muslin reflect the rules and laid lines of the fascicle paper. Dickinson’s pen marks are embroidered in red silk thread.
Five quilts were completed between 2004 and 2008, ten between 2022 and 2025, five are in progress in 2026, with another ten projected for a total of thirty quilts by Dickinson’s centenary in 2030. A deep reader and slow maker, Bervin seeks new understandings with each quilt.