Laura Mayron Presents at NeMLA
Laura Mayron, a doctoral student in our Hispanic Language & Literatures program, presented at the 2019 Northeast Modern Language Association conference. Great work, Laura!
Her presentation was titled: “Queer Bodies & Intimacies in the Writing of Alejandra Pizarnik”.
From Laura’s abstract:
Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972), an Argentinean queer poet, has become recognized within contemporary Hispanic literature for her arresting, turbulent poetics of gender and sexuality, specifically in representing her experience as a bisexual woman. The topic of this paper addresses Pizarnik’s writings of queer intimacy in both her poetry and her letters, in particular regarding Argentinean poet Silvina Ocampo. This work examines Pizarnik’s casting of the body within a queer frame—specifically, within the context of her open bisexuality—in her poetry and other writing, primarily through symbols of the natural world. Through analyzing imagery related to water, flowers, and night, this work shows how these nature-based images manage to subvert the tradition of the delicate feminine in their darker character. By tapping into a much more visceral sexuality based in silence and absence, Pizarnik’s symbolism re-writes stereotypical depictions of female intimacy and love into a complex and queer framework.