'Black Phones': postmodern poetics in the Holocaust poetry of Sylvia Plath

Boswell, MJ

Abstract

This essay offers a fresh perspective on the Holocaust verse of the American poet Sylvia Plath, taking issue with the accusation that in her poetry she uses the Holocaust as a metaphor to figure her own personal pain. This essay offers close readings of the eccentric monologue 'Lady Lazarus' and the 'German trilogy' of 'Little Fugue', 'Daddy' and 'The Munich Mannequins'. Paying particular attention to the recurring motif of the 'black phone', this essay argues that Plath's Holocaust verse offers a self-aware response to the genocide that is identifiably postmodern in its innovative, self-reflexive treatment of history.

Citation

Boswell, M. (2008). 'Black Phones': postmodern poetics in the Holocaust poetry of Sylvia Plath. Critical Survey, 20(2), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.3167/cs.2008.200206

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 19, 2009
• Journal: Critical Survey
• Print ISSN: 0011-1570
• Publisher: Berghahn Journals
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 53-64
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/cs.2008.200206
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/cs.2008.200206
• Related Public URLs: http://www.berghahnbooks.com/; http://www.berghahnbooks.com/journals/cs/index.php
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedited version of an article published in Critical Survey. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Boswell, MJ 2008, ''Black Phones': postmodern poetics in the Holocaust poetry of Sylvia Plath', Critical Survey, 20 (2), pp.53-64 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/cs.2008.200206