Skip to main content

UPDATE: Sylvia Plath 75th Year Symposium schedule

The organizers of the Sylvia Plath 75th Year Symposium have released an updated schedule. Please note the addition, on Saturday 27th October, of Frances McCullough. McCullough was a long time editor of Plath's work, most notably of her abridged Journals.

Sylvia Plath 75th Year Symposium Schedule
October 25-29th 2007 at Oxford University

Thursday, 25 October

9:00-5:30 All-day registration, Rothermere American Institute
9:00 Continental breakfast, Rhodes House
9:30 Opening, Rhodes Milner Room
10:00-11:00 Literary panel, Rhodes Jameson [“The Bee Poems’: Bethany Hicok, Georgiana Banita]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘Plath, Sexton and the Literary Market’: Jo Gill, Adrian Jones, Mel Waters, Luke Ferretter]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, Rhodes Milner [“Plath and Pathology’: Elana Ciobanu, Mary DeShazer, Ralph Didlake, Deborah Phelps]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, large Rothermere [‘Expressing Struggle and Pain’: Beth Martinelli, Pamela Ryan, Ghanim Samarrai, Isabella Wai]
12:00-12:45 Welcome lunch, Rhodes
1:30-2:15 Exhibition tour/talk, Oxford Playhouse [Kristina Zimbakova]
1:15-2:15 Guest speaker Nick Owen, Rhodes Jameson [‘Roots of Creativity and Destructiveness in Plath’]
1:15-3:45 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘Family Romance 1’: Susan Bowers, Kara Kilfoil, Aubrey Menard, Ann Walsh, Kristy Woodcock]
1:15-3:45 Literary panel, Rhodes Milner [‘Comparing Plath’: Abdolmajid Eskandari, Hilary Holladay, Adrianne Kalfopoulou, Gary Leising, Anastasia Logotheti, Barbara Mossberg]
1:15-3:45 Literary panel, large Rothermere [‘Plath Parallels’: Majid Avali, Sibel Guzel, Nadide Karkimer, Leyli Jamali, Raja Sekhar, Omid Varzandeh]
2:30-3:45 Guest speakers Marianne Egeland and Pamela Norris, Rhodes Jameson [‘Plath in Print’; ‘Writing the life as fiction: Sylvia Plath and the Problem of Biography’]
4:00-5:45 Featured speakers Helle and Larschan, Rhodes Milner
Helle: ‘“The Photographic Chamber of the Eye”: Plath, Photography and thePost-Confessional Muse’
Larschan: ‘”What Mightn’t the Sea Bequeath?”: Plath’s Mythical Massachusetts’
4:00-5:45 Literary panel, large Rothermere [‘Images of Plath’: Annika Hagström, Allyson Hyland, Philippa Hawker]
4:00-5:45 Literary panel, small Rothermere [Plath and Female Identity’: Gail Crowther, Patricia Grisafi, Jessica McCort, Dorothy Wang]
4:00-5:45 Literary panel, Rhodes Jameson [‘Plath and Pedagogy’: Amanda Golden, Eusebio de Lorenzo Gomez, Kate Gray, Jason Lee]
6:00-7:00 Wine reception at Divinity School, Bodleian Library exhibit of small press books
7:00-9:00 Reception and poetry reading at Blackwell’s Bookshop (P)
8:00-9:30 Featured playwright Elisabeth Gray’s play ‘Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath’, Pilch Theatre (P)
Open hours Rothermere Library exhibition of Enid Mark’s ‘About Sylvia’ book/prints

Friday, 26 October

9:00-5:30 All-day registration, Rothermere American Institute
9:00 Continental breakfast, Rhodes House
9:00-9:50 Forum on Plath Profiles on-line journal 1, Rhodes Milner [Bill Buckley, Mary Nolan]
10:00-11:45 Featured speakers Lynda K. Bundtzen and Tim Kendall, Rhodes Milner
Bundtzen: ‘Confession, Contrition, and Concealment in Ted Hughes’s Howls and Whispers’
Kendall: ‘Sylvia Plath and the Purpose of Poetry’
12:00-12:45 Lunch, Rhodes
1:00-2:20 Literary panel, large Rothermere [‘Plath and Hughes Manuscripts Verso’: Helen Decker, Emma Hoare, Uta Gosmann]
1:00-2:20 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘Plath’s Influence on International writers’: Fan Jinghua, Maria Johnston, Malin Pereira]
1:00-2:20 Literary panel, Rhodes Milner [‘Motherhood and Marriage’: Annie Finch, Katherine Keenan, Sondra Swedborg]
1:30-2:15 Exhibition tour/talk, Oxford Playhouse
1:30-2:20 Guest speaker Sarah Churchwell, Rhodes Jameson
2:30-4:15 Featured speakers Steven Gould Axelrod and Linda Wagner-Martin, Rhodes Milner
Axelrod: ‘Plath and Torture’
Wagner-Martin: ‘All Those Years in the Archives: A Life with Sylvia Plath’
4:30-6:30 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘“Lady Lazarus” and Suicide’: Nadia Boudidah Falfoul, Marcia Elis de Lima Francoso, Kamran Javadizadeh, Stephanie Roush]
4:30-6:30 Literary panel, Rhodes Jameson [‘Plath in Popular and Cold War Culture’: Joan Dargan, Erik Mortenson, Patrick O’Connor, Cornelia Pearsall, Nicola Presley]
4:30-6:30 Literary panel, large Rothermere [The Bell Jar: Ozlem Gorumlu, Esin Kumlu, Elaine Pigeon, Janet Stallard]
4:30-6:30 Literary panel, Rhodes Milner [‘Plath and Hughes Dialog’: Heather Clark, Diana Conzett, Janne Stigen Drangsholt, Diane Hunter, Terry Hunter]
5:00-5:30 Hanna/Simmons’s intro to “The Girl Who Would be God’ animation, Oxford Playhouse
5:30-7:00 Hanna/Simmons animation and Lahire films ‘Edge’, ‘Lady Lazarus’ and
‘Johnny Panic’, Top Room, Oxford Playhouse
8:00-8:30 Sarah Purcell’s introduction to Sandra Lahire films, ‘Edge’, ‘Lady Lazarus’ and ‘Johnny Panic’, Top Room/Oxford Playhouse (P)
8:30-10:00 Lahire films, Hanna/Simmons animation, Top Room, Oxford Playhouse Top Room/Oxford Playhouse (P)
8:00-8:30 Mossberg’s introduction to Elisabeth Gray’s play, Pilch Theatre (P)
8:30-10:00 Gray’s play ‘Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath’, Pilch Theatre (P)
Open hours Rothermere Library exhibition of Enid Mark’s ‘About Sylvia’ book/prints

Saturday, 27 October

9:00-4:00 All-day registration, Rothermere American Institute
9:00 Continental breakfast, Rhodes House
9:00-9:50 Forum on Plath archives, Smith, Lilly & Emory, Rhodes Milner
10:00-11:30 Featured speakers Karen Kukil and Robin Peel, Rhodes Milner
Kukil: ‘Sylvia Plath’s Women’
Peel: ‘Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, and Publication’
10:00-11:30 Lahire and Hanna/Simmons animation, Top Room, Oxford Playhouse (P)
11:45-12:45 Lunch, Rhodes
1:00-2:45 Featured speakers Anne Stevenson/Martin Schaetzle and Britzolakis, Rhodes Milner
Stevenson/Schaetzle: “Sylvia Plath and Ruth Beuscher’
Britzolakis: ‘Plath’s Dreamwork’
3:00-4:15 Artist panel Siall Waterbright and Amanda Robins, Rhodes Milner [‘Plath as Artistic Inspiration’]
3:00-4:15 Guest speakers Francis McCullough and Jonathan Ellis, large Rothermere [‘Editing Plath’]
3:00-4:15 Featured and Guest poets Catherine Bowman and Crystal Hurdle, small Rothermere
3:00-4:15 Featured photographer Linda Adele Goodine, Rhodes Jameson
4:30 Bus to London, Piccadilly
6:00-8:30 London free time
8:30-10:00 Sylvia Plath Birthday Concert, St. James Church, Piccadilly (P)
10:30 Bus to Oxford
8:00-9:30 Gray’s play, ‘I Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath’, Pilch Theatre, Oxford (P)
Open hours Rothermere Library exhibition of Enid Mark’s ‘About Sylvia’ book/prints

Sunday, 28 October

9:00-2:00 All-day registration, Rothermere American Institute
9:00 Continental breakfast, Rhodes
9:00-9:45 Forum on Plath Websites, Rhodes Milner [Elaine Connell, Peter Steinberg]
10:00-11:45 Featured speakers Tracy Brain and Langdon Hammer, Rhodes Milner
Brain: ‘Representing Sylvia Plath’
Hammer: ‘Plath’s German’
12:00-12:45 Lunch, Rhodes
1:00-2:00 Book signing, Rhodes (open to public)
2:15-4:00 Featured speakers A. Alvarez and Diane Middlebrook, Rhodes Milner
Alvarez: ‘My friendship with Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes’
Middlebrook: ‘Call and Response in the Poetry of Plath and Hughes’
4:15-5:50 Literary panel, Large Rothermere [‘Plath, Gender and Self definition’: Andrew Browne, Vassilis Manoussakis, Janet McCann, Neslihan Emkekciouglu]
4:15-5:50 Literary panel, Rhodes Jameson [‘Ariel’: Smita Agrawal, Bora Im, Chloe Stopa-Hunt, Jennifer Ryan]
4:15-5:30 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘Plath’s story “The Perfect Place”’: Irralie Doel, Lena Friesen, Peter Steinberg]
4:30-5:30 Guest speaker Kroll, Rhodes Milner
6:00-7:30 Oxford Playhouse reception
7:30-9:30 Oxford Playhouse performance (P)
Open hours Rothermere Library exhibition of Enid Mark’s ‘About Sylvia’ book/prints

Monday, 29 October (Panels are free and open to the public this day)

9:00 Continental breakfast
9:00-9:50 Forum on Plath Profiles on-line journal 2, Rhodes Milner [Bill Buckley, Mary Nolan]
10:00-11:00 Literary panel, small Rothermere [Feminist ID: Janet Badia, Christina Belcher]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, Rhodes Jameson [‘Plath’s Landscapes’: Katherine Hazzard, Bajrang Korde, David Troupes]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, Rhodes Milner [‘Plath as Visionary’: Liz Beasley, Bill Buckley, Anne Dillon, Anaya Ghoshal, Nephie Christodoulides]
10:00-11:45 Literary panel, large Rothermereermere [‘Plath’s Prose’: Ipsita Bhattacharyya, Laure De Nevraux]
11:10-11:50 Literary panel, small Rothermere [‘Family Romance 2’: Ashok Sachdeva, Yashpal Vyas]
12:00 Closing, Rhodes Milner
1:00 Lunch at local pub


(P) indicates open to the public

Popular posts from this blog

Sylvia Plath's Gravestone Vandalized

The following news story appeared online this morning: HEPTONSTALL, ENGLAND (APFS) - The small village of Heptonstall is once again in the news because of the grave site of American poet Sylvia Plath. The headstone controversy rose to a fever pitch in 1989 when Plath's grave was left unmarked for a long period of time after vandals repeatedly chiseled her married surname Hughes off the stone marker. Author Nick Hornby commented, "I like Plath, but the controversy reaching its fever pitch in the 80s had nothing to do with my book title choice." Today, however, it was discovered that the grave was defaced but in quite an unlikely fashion. This time, Plath's headstone has had slashed-off her maiden name "Plath," so the stone now reads "Sylvia Hughes." A statement posted on Twitter from @masculinistsfortedhughes (Masculinists for Ted Hughes) has claimed responsibility saying that, "We did this because as Ted Hughes' first wife, Sylvia de

Famous Quotes of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath inspires us all in various and wonderful ways. She is in many respects a form of comfort to us, which is something that Esther Greenwood expresses in The Bell Jar , about a bath: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: 'I'll go take a hot bath.'" We read and remember Sylvia Plath for many reasons, many of them deeply personal and private. But we commemorate her, too, in very public ways, as Anna of the long-standing Tumblr Loving Sylvia Plath , has been tracking, in the form of tattoos. (Anna's on Instagram with it too, as SylviaPlathInk .) The above bath quote is among Sylvia Plath's most famous. It often appears here and there and it is stripped of its context. But I think most people will know it is from her nove

Sylvia Plath and McLean Hospital

In August when I was in the final preparations for the tour of Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar sites, I found that I had long been mistaken about a couple of things. This is my coming clean. It was my intention in this blog post to discuss just McLean, but I found myself deeply immersed in other aspects of Plath's recovery. The other thing I was mistaken about will be discussed in a separate blog post. I suppose I need to state from the outset that I am drawing conclusions from Plath's actual experiences from what she wrote in The Bell Jar and vice versa, taking information from the novel that is presently unconfirmed or murky and applying it to Plath's biography. There is enough in The Bell Jar , I think, based on real life to make these decisions. At the same time, I like to think that I know enough to distinguish where things are authentic and where details were clearly made up, slightly fudged, or out of chronological order. McLean Hospital was Plath's third and last