Call for Papers Volume 27, Issue 2
Posted on 2024-03-01“Lady Lazarus”: Sylvia Plath and Her Resurrections Through Time
Guest Editors: Rocío Saucedo Dimas (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and Gabriela Villanueva Noriega (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
"Dying / Is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well": as the poem “Lady Lazarus” suggests, Sylvia Plath died more than once in life and yet enjoys multiple lives after her death. Celebrated, rejected, misunderstood, perhaps feared: her biography and her work have intertwined in a more complex and inextricable way than those of other authors. She is associated with a type of poetry that critic M.L. Rosenthal baptized as confessional in 1959 and which to this day generates mixed reactions ranging from disdain from some sectors within academia to rigorous and innovative studies, passing through simplifications, reevaluations, and vindications. At the same time, especially in Plath’s case, her poetry has given rise to a cult following and is eagerly and almost reverently read among various circles, predominantly by female readers.
The legacy of confessional poetry, with Plath at its center, has been so significant that it continues to shape today’s poetic landscape in the United States. Not only do we see poetic styles considered as continuations, often referred to as post-confessional poetry, but also movements that seek to break away from confessionalism, such as Language Poetry. In other words, whether evoking detraction, admiration, or something in between, Plath’s work and mid-20th-century confessional poetry have not been met with indifference throughout the decades. Ariel (1965) is widely regarded as a seminal poetry collection in contemporary literature in English. Beyond its literary resurrections, Plath’s figure has evolved into an iconic reference in popular culture, transcending English-speaking countries and taking on a life of its own.
For the special section in the second issue of its volume 27, Anuario de Letras Modernas invites specialists in the fields of literature, the arts, and humanities in general to submit unpublished and original research articles focusing on the poetic, narrative, epistolary, and dramatic works of this author, as well as their reception across various domains including literary, academic, and popular contexts. The suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Plath’s work seen from new theoretical and critical paradigms
- Confessional poetry and its rhetorics
- Post-confessional poetry: continuities and ruptures
- Confessional poetry and the concept of authorial figure
- Plath and feminisms
- Plath and her translations (understood in a broad sense)
- Plath in other latitudes
- The body in Plath's poetry
- Writing and life in Plath: conflicts, tensions, and distortions
- Plath and whiteness or other racial constructions
Anuario de Letras Modernas accepts texts in Spanish, English, and French. All contributions must adhere to the author guidelines established by the journal and must be submitted through the online editorial manager via the website below. While the journal considers contributions received throughout the year, the deadline to be included in this issue is May 9, 2024. The publication of volume 27 issue 2 of the journal is scheduled for November 2024.