Michaeliana
Book Announcements
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Tiresian Poetics: Modernism, Sexuality, and Voice 1888–2001 by Ed Madden
Earlier this year, Michaelian contributor Ed Madden published Tiresian Poetics: Modernism, Sexuality, and Voice 1888-2001. Published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (2008, ISBN 978-0-8386-3937-5, 402 pages, US $80), the book argues for the emergence of a Tiresian poetics at the end of the nineteenth century, a poetics grounding artistic power in figures of sexual difference—most often a feminized, often homosexual male body. Madden begins with Michael Field, suggesting that Field’s Sapphic Tiresias inaugurates a turn to the Ovidian tale of sex change and sexual judgment. (A portion of this chapter was published as “Penetrating Matthew Arnold” in Michael Field and Their World [2007].) Consistently connecting Tiresian figures to developing discourses of homosexuality, other chapters examine the figure of Tiresias in works by T.S. Eliot, Austin Clarke, and Djuna Barnes, concluding with a survey of late twentieth century texts in which Tiresias functions as a cultural shorthand for queer sexualities. |
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The Fowl and the Pussycat: Love Letters of Michael Field, 1876–1909 by Michael Field, ed. Sharon Bickle.
In December 2008, University of Virginia Press published this edition of the love letters of Michael Field (ISBN 978-0-8139-2751-0, 336 pages, US $49.50). The book, prepared by Michaelian editor Sharon Bickle, brings together for the first time a personal correspondence thought lost by critics. As the first modern scholarly edition of any of Michael Field's writings, the 168 letters represent a treasure trove of almost untouched manuscript material, including many from the critical early years (1876-1885) of this aunt-niece collaboration. The letters contain both published and unpublished poems and insights into the dramas and their production and are supplemented by extensive annotation and a biographical introduction. Recent critical analysis of poetry and plays written by Michael Field has resulted in more complex interpretations of lesbian textuality, but our understanding of the lives of these poets remains obscured by a pervasive myth of unity. By drawing on previously neglected information about the early lives of Bradley and Cooper made available in these letters, Bickle is able to challenge many current perceptions about the poets' lives. She also shows how the letters provide a context for understanding the development of specific works and for reevaluating the significance of Michael Field as a late-Victorian writer. |
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Michael Field: The Poet, ed. Marion Thain and Ana Vadillo.
Broadview Press has announced a forthcoming edition of selected works by Michael Field to be published in March, 2009 (ISBN
9781551116754 / 1551116758, 325pp, US $24.95). This anthology promises to provide a wide selection of Michael Field's poetry including lyrics from Long Ago (1889), Sight and Song (1892), Underneath the Bough (1893), Wild Honey from Various Thyme (1908), Poems of Adoration (1912), Mystic Trees (1913), Whym Chow: Flame of Love (1914), Dedicated: an Early Work by Michael Field (1914), and The Wattlefold: Unpublished Poems by Michael Field (1930), as well as excerpts from “Works and Days,” the correspondence and reviews of their work. |
Events
Airmid Theatre Company’s reading of A Question of Memory.
On September 8, 2008, Airmid Theatre Company held a reading of
A Question of Memory by Michael Field followed by a discussion by the company and audience. Airmid Theatre Company seeks to introduce performances of significant dramatic works written by women. While we have been unable to locate anyone who took part in the evening, the director, Tricia McDermott tells us the purpose of the reading was to see if the play was still “a viable piece of the theatre in modern society” which she believes it is.
Anyone wishing to contribute Information on Book and Conference announcements, Events or other Michaeliana should contact the editors (sharon.bickle@gmail.com).
