42
uses the word ‘ admit ’ carefully , as she is confessing , quite explicitly , to feelings and thoughts that are taboo , in the restricted environment of 1950s America . 18
Like the fluidity that passes through my poems (‘ piss ’, ‘ haemorrhage ’, ‘ vodka ’, ‘ glue ’), it also passes through protest poetry . For feminist Helene Cixous , writing is a joy it is an escape , a freedom . Plath and Sexton wrote perhaps as a way to fight for freedom – ultimately this was futile for them . My writing is confessional , but closer to Cixous ’ idea of ‘ jouissance ’ – there is pleasure gained by writing by hand and then typing it up . The creativity of the confessional explores narcissism through bodily pleasure and object-relations . There is a difference between the confessional and narcissism therefore . The narcissism of looking in a mirror , where , for Lacan , the child first establishes its ego metaphorically shows taking a position outside of the Self , something true narcissists , in the psychiatric use of the word , cannot do . In confessional works , there is transience , death and monstrosity which Lacan ’ s ‘ body-in-pieces ’ typifies . 19
18
Having lesbian desires , in her poetry , Sexton emphasises ‘ admittance ’ at a time when homosexuality was not as widely accepted .
19
Laplanche , The Language of Psycho Analysis . See entry on the Mirror Stage , 243-254 .