Jim Morrison is an artist that pervades our cultural imagination, yet his work has gone largely unexplored. His poetry in particular has been critically overlooked. The poetic work is comprised of The Lords and The New Creatures, which was published during his lifetime, and Wilderness and The American Night, both of which were published posthumously. There is also, of course, The Doors’ lyrical work that Morrison had the predominant hand in. His other work includes his film, HWY, an example of cinema-verite, his filmscript The Hitchiker: An American Pastoral, as well as prose work such as his ‘Self-Interview’.
There have been attempts to deal with him, but these are few and far between. This includes what is perhaps the inaugural book in Morrison criticism, Wallace Fowlie’s Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet (Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1994) and, most recently, Denise Sullivan published Shaman’s Blues: The Art and Influence Behind Jim Morrison and The Doors (New York, NY: Sumach-Red Books, 2014).
Submission formats
- Academic essays of 1500-6000 words
- Book reviews of 800-1500 words
- Responses to individual poems, songs, or poem excerpts of 500-1500 words (if you’re unable to access his work, just give us an email and we’ll send you a selection)
Submissions will ideally follow MHRA guidelines (http://www.mhra.org.uk/pdf/MHRA-Style-Guide-3rd-Edn.pdf).
However, we do recognise that not all will be familiar with these. In the interest of not deterring submissions we will accept whichever format you are familiar with as long as it is recognised and consistent in the work.
All submissions and enquiries to Jim.Morrison.Journal at gmail.com
We are also looking for volunteers to help in the peer-review process. If this interests you, please get in touch.
Deadlines
Please submit an abstract or outline of 150-250 words for feedback and review. Make sure to mention any key materials you will be touching on. The deadline for this is 26th January 2018.
The deadline for abstracts has now passed, but, nonetheless, if you would like to write something please do get in touch!
The deadline for final submission is 30th March 2018, with the aim of publishing in Summer 2018.
If you would like to discuss your work or any ideas you have, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Areas for exploration
- The road/highway in Morrison’s work
- Morrison’s relationship with the counterculture and contemporary society
- The body
- Masculinity
- Performativity
- His work and its influences, most significantly William Blake and Arthur Rimbaud
- Morrison and cinema
- Ritual, shamanism, and liminality
- The blues
Please note that these are only ideas. Feel free to explore any area of Morrison’s work.
Articles that discuss The Doors as a whole are also acceptable.
Books to review
- Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet (Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1994)
- Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend (London: Ebury, 2011)
- James Riordan and James Prochnicky, Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (London: Plexus, 1991)
- Denise Sullivan, Shaman’s Blues: The Art and Influences Behind Jim Morrison and The Doors (New York, NY: Sumach-Red Books, 2014)
- Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets out Alive (London: Plexus, 1991)
- Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (London: Plexus, 1992)
- Jim Cherry, The Doors Examined (Birmingham: Bennion Kearny Ltd, 2013)
- Daveth Milton, We Want the World: Jim Morrison, The Living Theatre, and The FBI (Birmingham: Bennion Kearny Ltd, 2012)
Chapters to review
- Alessandro Cabiati, ‘Fabulous Operas, Rock ‘n’ Roll Shows: The Intoxication and Poetic Experimentation of Arthur Rimbaud and Jim Morrison’ in Eugene Brennan and Russell Williams (eds), Literature and Intoxication: Writing Politics and the Experience of Excess(Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 97-118.
- Tristianne Connolly, ‘“He Took a Face from the Ancient Gallery”: Blake and Jim Morrison’ in Steve Clark, Tristianna Connolly, and Jason Whittaker (eds), Blake 2.0: William Blake in Twentieth Century Art, Music and Culture(Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp. 230-247.
Again, these chapters and books are only suggestions. Feel free to write on any relevant book, chapter, or even article – an evaluation of the current critical field is what we’re after.
If you wish to review a book or chapter but you are struggling to get hold of it, send us an email and we will see what we can do to help.
Notes
- We are aware Jim Morrison is not well-represented in libraries. For those in London, a request has been sent to UCL Main Library to purchase Morrison’s three volumes of poetry and it should be available in due course. It is also available in the British Library.
- Further afield, if you attend university, you should be able to request the books be bought by your university library, perhaps through a subject-specific library liaison officer.
- Morrison’s film HWY is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6ojURx4Zdqc
- For further reading, see our ‘Useful Links’ section
- Creative Commons Attribution
- Authors retain their copyright