Frontmatter and Editorial

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the editorial:

Confinement occurs in both relatively open and closed spaces, is not limited to the prisoner and does not always occur knowingly. It can occur in a nine to five day and in an abusive relationship; it can occur in the fictional world of an author as much as in reality. The three articles of this issue reflect the complex relation of gendered roles and sexual politics in the context of confinement. And while Val Xaviers statement in Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending (1957) “[w]e're all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life” holds true, the characters addressed in our following essays do certainly not submit to their respective restrictions.