CFP: The Dramas of Michael Field: Edited Collection (Deadline 7/1/2022)
Abstract Deadline: July 1, 2022
For at least two decades, the lyric poetry of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, aunt and niece collaborative authors known collectively as Michael Field, has been the subject of substantial scholarly attention. Despite growing awareness of the complexity and intellectually rich body of work these writers produced, less attention has been given to their more than two dozen published dramas. Their first collaborative work, Bellerophôn (1881), was a historical closet drama inspired by the eponymous Greek hero. Ambitious and misunderstood, Bellerophôn “was the pillar on which they constructed their vision for the collaborative poetics that would become Michael Field” (Parker and Vadillo 6). It was their dramas, first and foremost, that attracted the attention of Robert Browning, A.C. Swinburne, and W.B. Yeats.
It is now time for critics to engage in a conversation about Michael Field’s experimental work on their dramatic verse. Most recently, scholars gathered at the North American Victorian Studies Association Convention in 2019 enjoyed a performance of A Question of Memory (1893). In addition, the Shadow Opera podcast is exploring the dramatic power of their lyric in their episodic opera, Veritable Michael. The organizers would like to capitalize on this renewed interest in their staging of decadence.
The organizers are seeking innovative essay proposals for an edited collection of essays on Michael Field’s dramas. The organizers are looking for original pieces that will offer insightful and transformative analysis of their plays. The essays may explore individual plays or address bigger issues across their dramatic oeuvre. Topics may include (but are not restrictive to): formalism, theory, history, comparative studies with contemporary playwrights, ecology, queerness, the stage, politics, society, literary movements, the global and the local, dramatic writing, modernist drama, decadent drama, aesthetic drama, Latin and Greek influences, etc. The organizers would like to hear from early career as well as well-established critics.
Please send a 500-word abstract and short biography to Amy Kahrmann Huseby (ahuseby@fiu.edu) and Ana Parejo Vadillo (a.parejovadillo@bbk.ac.uk) by July 1, 2022. If selected, you will be invited to submit a chapter of up to 7000 words to be included in the collection. Full essays would be due by August 31, 2023.