“Take off my death again”: Fragmentation and the Becoming of Lady Lazarus in Sylvia Plath and Jennifer Rahim

Abstract

Contemplating the idea of continuity through fragmentation allows us to question how connections between different pieces produced by two female authors from diverse contexts within the wide spectrum of English literature take shape, bringing to light the fallacy of a direct and linear conjunction, while proposing less direct but more enriching liaisons. Furthermore, the fragmented quality of this way of thinking frees figures that once might have been considered as a closed unit to introduce diversity in the form of multicultural discourses as part of an ongoing dialogue. Such is the case of Lady Lazarus, seen as a character-theme that allows a cross-cultural dialogue between “Lady Lazarus” (1965) by Sylvia Plath and “Lady Lazarus in the Sun” (2008) by Jennifer Rahim. In these texts, two versions of the same character gain opacity through a fragmentation that has been built in a constant state of becoming, which allows the figure to be introduced into new realities. Therefore, this article seeks to explore the way in which both poets undergo complex negotiations where identity is composed through their poetic voice, Lady Lazarus, and other voices and stories through a fragmented body which is in a constant state of becoming. In this exchange, fragmentation acquires the characteristics of a two-way street where the character-theme constructs itself, paradoxically, through fragmentation, while its presence deconstructs dissonant materialities that triggered the death/resurgence cycle that characterizes Lady Lazarus. In this sense, this article will address fragments in becoming as a complex process in the construction of a multiple and subversive identity found in poetry written by women.