Called Back is a mystery/romance novel written by Englishman Frederick John Fargus under the pseudonym Hugh Conway. The book, widely popular at the time that it was written in the late 19th century, made a significant impression on the life of American poet Emily Dickinson in her late life. It so impressed upon her that days before her death in May 1886, she wrote what is believed to be her final letter to her cousins, simply: "Little Cousins, Called Back. Emily." Her gravestone in Amherst, Massachusetts reads:
EMILY DICKINSON
BORN
DEC.10,1830
CALLED BACK
MAY.15,1886
Eerily, Frederick John Fargus died on May 15, 1885, exactly one year earlier to the day than Emily Dickinson. One might point to this coincidence as the inspiration for Dickinson's final letter, however she could not have known the precision with which her end would align itself with Fargus', as she fell into a coma on the 13th.
Famous quotes containing the word called:
“All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called “facts.” They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain. Who does not know fellows that always have an ill-conditioned fact or two that they lead after them into decent company like so many bull-dogs, ready to let them slip at every ingenious suggestion, or convenient generalization, or pleasant fancy? I allow no “facts” at this table.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)