Farr was the author of three critical studies: The Passion of Emily Dickinson (1992), The Gardens of Emily Dickinson (co-written with Louise Carter, 2004), and The Art and Life of Elinor Wylie (1983); she also edited two essay collections, Emily Dickinson: New Century Views (1995) and Twentieth Century Interpretations of D.H. Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers” (1970). Farr wrote the preface to Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium (2007). She also wrote an epistolary novel, I Never Came to You in White (1996), and a book of poems, What Lies Beyond (2019).
Farr earned a PhD in English Literature from Marymount Manhattan College, and taught at Georgetown University. Her short fiction appeared in The Minnesota Review, and her essays and reviews appeared in the Emily Dickinson Journal, The Wilson Quarterly, and Belles Lettres. Among other awards, she received a Morgan Porter Fellowship from Yale University, and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and the New York State Research Foundation.
The Homes
The Westchester, 4000 Cathedral Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Built on ten landscaped acres in 1931, the Westchester originally housed 556 apartments in five buildings. The grounds include a sunken garden and Georgian gates and pillars that were imported from England. For nearly twenty years, the Westchester was the largest luxury apartment house in Washington, and included such amenities as a barber shop, beauty salon, and dry cleaner. In 1954, the apartments were converted to a co-operative.
Also home to: Neil Merton Judd