{"id":12277,"date":"2024-10-15T20:07:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T20:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/15\/finding-verse-in-the-perverse\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:22:05","slug":"finding-verse-in-the-perverse","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/15\/finding-verse-in-the-perverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding verse in the perverse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

Clark professor transforms Salem Witch Trials into poetry<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><br \/>\n <br \/>\n Professor Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez teaches poetry class.<\/p>\n<p>Poring through court records from the Salem Witch Trials, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/programs\/majors-minors\/major-in-creative-writing-b-a\/\" aria-label=\"major in creative writing\">creative writing<\/a> Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/mandy-gutmann-gonzalez\/\" aria-label=\"professor bio\">Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez<\/a> saw an opportunity to examine the violent language of the legal system and reframe the narrative. The court records became a starting point for Gutmann-Gonzalez’s retelling of the trials through original poetry. The poems were published in the chapbook “<a href=\"https:\/\/endlinepress.com\/A-An-by-Mandy-Gutmann-Gonzalez-a-chapbook\" aria-label=\"poetry chapbook\">A\/An<\/a>” in January and Gutmann-Gonzalez is expanding the project into a forthcoming book titled “O\/ccult.”<\/p>\n<p>It’s a deeply personal project for Gutmann-Gonzalez, whose mother is a witch. Rituals and manifestations were common practice during their childhood.<\/p>\n<p>“The court examinations are fascinating, but also very disturbing. I gravitated toward certain idiosyncrasies in the language. For example, English spelling was not standardized at that point, so a lot of the words were spelled inconsistently,” says Gutmann-Gonzalez.<\/p>\n<div class=\"csidebar right tint\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62133 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/A-An-Book-Cover-187x280-2.png\" alt='tan book cover of \"A\/An\"' width=\"154\" height=\"231\">\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">The Alice Coonley Higgins Institute for Arts and Humanities is hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/event\/a-an-book-launch-and-poetry-reading-8\/\" aria-label=\"event\">a book launch of “A\/An”<\/a> on Nov. 14 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Higgins Lounge in Dana Commons.<\/div>\n<p>“I tried to both reproduce and magnify these effects in my poems,” they continue. “I was interested in the power dynamics between the witches, the magistrates, and the so-called afflicted girls, but I was also interested in the texture of the language and the way that the language of the law can be used in ways that reify power.”<\/p>\n<p>“O\/ccult” is divided into four sections — each of which corresponds with a tarot card.  The sections include the Salem Witch Trials archival work, reflections of Gutmann-Gonzalez’s upbringing in Chile during the U.S.-backed military dictatorship of Gen.<strong> <\/strong>Augusto Pinochet, a polyphonic witch manifesto, and an exchange in which Gutmann-Gonzalez playfully takes the role of Salem judges and interrogates their mother about her experiences being a witch.<\/p>\n<p>“I grew up around all of this witchiness,” says Gutmann-Gonzalez. “I’m trying to link the historical and archival with my family history.”<\/p>\n<p><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong> is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL\" aria-label=\"listen on spotify\">Spotify<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\" aria-label=\"listen on apple podcasts\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-7 wp-block-columns no-gap photo-row\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis: 50%\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_62131\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62131\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium-large wp-image-62131\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024_Poetry_Class-19-420x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"students sit around square table\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62131\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez teaches poetry class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis: 50%\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_62137\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62137\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium-large wp-image-62137\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024_Poetry_Class-16-420x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"student smiling in class\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62137\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students discuss poetry in Professor Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez’s poetry class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"csidebar center\"><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_42059\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42059\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium-large wp-image-42059\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023_Justin_Shaw-8-420x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Shaw in front of microphone\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42059\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">English Professor Justin Shaw<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\" data-testid=\"non-editable-product-title\">Examine the written word on Challenge. Change.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"headings__title svelte-1scg3f0\" data-testid=\"non-editable-product-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/10\/26\/from-bard-to-banned\/\"><span dir=\"auto\">To Teach or Not to Teach Shakespeare with Professor Justin Shaw<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"headings__title svelte-1scg3f0\" data-testid=\"non-editable-product-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/09\/28\/cookbooks-and-queer-theory\/\"><span dir=\"auto\">Queerness and Food are an Edible Delight for Professor Elizabeth Blake<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"section section--episodeHeaderRegular svelte-1f64bnu without-bottom-spacing\" data-testid=\"section-container\" aria-label=\"Featured\" aria-hidden=\"false\">\n<div class=\"shelf-content\" data-testid=\"shelf-content\">\n<div class=\"container-detail-header svelte-1scg3f0 container-detail-header--no-description\" data-testid=\"container-detail-header\">\n<div class=\"headings svelte-1scg3f0\">\n<p class=\"headings__title svelte-1scg3f0\" data-testid=\"non-editable-product-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/08\/17\/conflicting-commitments-and-compromise\/\"><span dir=\"auto\">Coming of Age Stories and Confronting Divided Loyalties with Professor Spencer Tricker<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clark professor transforms Salem Witch Trials into poetry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12278,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":12278,"section_label":"Challenge. Change. Podcast","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[225,223],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[],"topic":[250,247,117,150,160,118,207,176],"class_list":["post-12277","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","category-clark-community","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","topic-arts","topic-books-and-publications","topic-english","topic-faculty","topic-faculty-research","topic-major-in-english","topic-massachusetts","topic-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Finding verse in the perverse | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/15\/finding-verse-in-the-perverse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding verse in the perverse\" 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