The Sylvia Plath Forum

www.sylviaplathforum.com

May-June 2002

I admit I didn't read everyone's opinion, so what I'm saying might very well be redundant, but anyway...I especially liked what Saira had to say. And to all those who say we have no idea what it felt like to be a part of the Holocaust, I say you're right. But (especially artists of any variety) people do have the ability to empathize. Some people have such a strong sense of empathy that they live life in pain whether they themselves are suffering or not, because they feel others' pain so strongly. It doesn't mean they actually feel that pain, but they can imagine it and apply it to their own lives. Also, as a person with a strong family history of mental illness and suicide, who has dealt with the very real torture and suffering and feeling of being dead that comes with true depression, I see hypocrisy in this "you don't know how it feels." Because who knows what each individual's pain really feels like, be it mental or physical or both. No one can ever know. They can only imagine. Just as Sylvia Plath was doing.

Michelle
 Florida, USA
Saturday, June 29, 2002



I really have a problem with Gwynneth Paltrow portraying Sylvia Plath. I would love to see a movie about Plath, but feel sick about giving Paltrow money because some group of movie makers thinks her name will bring in a bigger audience. So what if Paltrow is thin and can manage a "brooding look". Sylvia Plath was a blazing spirit bursting at the seams of her body. Gwyneth Paltrow comes across merely as a souless puppet, mimmicking her way through life. All the art of the movie and of Sylvia's life will be lost in the name of a few more bucks. Would any amount of protest make the movie makers reconsider?

Appollonia
 NY, USA
Saturday, June 29, 2002



Giving Up, the new memoir by Jillian Becker, is now available for shipping from Amazon.co.uk!

Peter K Steinberg
 Boston, USA
Monday, June 24, 2002



Simply moving, a fantastic piece. I intend to show it to as many of my friends as possible. I am 13 and I have really been inspired by this poetry

Borris
 Alton, England
Thursday, June 20, 2002



I absolutely love this forum!!!!! I just read the Bell Jar in April and I loved it. I was also wondering after having read the Bell Jar for the fourth time, if feminists have the right to claim Plath as their own. Any thoughts?

Daniel Holden
 Humboldt, USA
Thursday, June 20, 2002



Does anyone agree that Sylvia Plath had elements of Existentialsim in any of her poetry? For example Tulips?

Victoria
 Singapore
Thursday, June 13, 2002



The website is up for the Eye Rhymes:Visual Art and Manuscripts of Sylvia Plath Exhibition and the Sylvia Plath 70th Year Commemoration and Literary Symposium at Indiana University in fall 2002: www.indiana.edu/~plath70

We will accept abstracts for the Literary Symposium after the June 15 Call For Papers deadline previously posted.

Kathleen Connors
 Bloomington,Indiana, USA
Thursday, June 13, 2002



Jade, you might want to look up Anne Sexton's poem entitled "My friend, my friend"; it's been discussed on the Forum before. The poem uses the repeated 'oo' ryhmes much the way "Daddy" does, giving it the sound of a nursery rhyme. It's one of her early poems and, given that Sexton and Plath attended Lowell's workshop together in 1959-60, it seems obvious that it influenced Sylvia's poem heavily. Jim Long
 Honolulu HI, USA
Thursday, June 13, 2002



Jade Glashoff, in the out-of-print-but-still-carried-by-libraries "Sylvia Plath: A Symposium" there is a chapter called "The Poetics of Sylvia Plath" which you might examine, where the author finds "Ariel" "Square as a chair, technically," but it doesn't matter; you should look it up...

Kenneth Jones
 Berkeley, USA
Monday, June 10, 2002



Hey everyone, I have to say I am very impresed with the standard of ideas displayed here and actualy feel a little intimidated! I am in my last year at high school and studing selected poems by SP. I stumbled across this forum while searching for sound techniques used in "Daddy". There is much talk of content of SP's poetry, however not much on techniques (at least not that I have read). I have establishied the basics, but need much more. SP uses the German language in the peom which has content purposes such as ties with her father and the nazi's, but what about it's actual sound? I think it is quite a harsh sounding language which complaments the harshness of the poem. Also the 'oo' rhyme which i feel is quite childish and shows the speakers inmaturity, especially in the last stanza. I think it also has a nuseary rhyme sound to it as dose other elements of the poem, for example "Panzer-man, Panzer-man". Also with this line (Panzer-man, Panzer-man, O You) SP choses to "O You" instead of "Ach du" which means the same thing translated, however she previously uses "Ach du" in the last line of the third stanza. Why the translation???

I am hoping to recieve some exstentions to my thoughts (what little there is of them) and and very open to criticism.

Jade Glashoff
 Central Coast, Australia
Monday, June 10, 2002



Has anyone read Becker's Giving Up yet?--also, in Gordon's Ghostly Matters, Haunting and the Sociological Imagination (U Minnesota Press 1997). Is that cover photograph Plath or a lookalike?...

Kenneth Jones
 Berkeley, USA
Sunday, June 9, 2002



Stephanie, you wanted to know what other poeple think of Lester's so-called "theory"? Need I say, I am appalled to think that such a piece of artless, voyeuristic, practically pornographic, fantasy could actually get published, much less awarded any kind of recognition in the literary community. It's simply another example of the lengths that some will go to, exploiting the personal tragedies of the dead who are not around to respond and disprove them, to gain notoriety for themselves. It's disgusting is what it is.

I would like to see what her "endnotes" consist of. Does she offer any support for either of these theories from any sources? To speculate about Frank Schober's motive for taking Sylvia out on his boat without any basis is simply incredible and unacceptable and cannot be taken seriously.

And thank you, Elaine, for your comments in your review about the apparently developing taboo against men interacting with children. I can attest that events like the current hysteria in the media involving pedophile priests will make men self-conscious about interacting with children, even within their own families. This is a disservice to men and to the children, who need to feel comfortable expressing and receiving affection from the men in their families. I would certainly hate to think that, when I visit my sister and take her teenage daughter, my niece (who doesn't see her father very often because her parents are divorced), to the movies, that people are sitting around speculating about my motives or suspecting improper behavior. It would certainly make me reluctant to do so again.

As for the idea that Hughes "hypnotised" Sylvia into killing herself, I have said before that Sylvia was chronically susceptible to the idea of suicide; she certainly didn't need Hughes to put the idea into her head. And, judging by his behavior in other relationships, I cannot see that Hughes would have felt any need to do so. If he wanted out of a relationship he was perfectly capable of ending it without doing away with his wife. And it's my feeling that he had no real interest in taking over the care of the children if he hadn't been forced to by her death, which was quite beyond his control.

Jim Long
 Honolulu HI, USA
Wednesday, June 5, 2002



Regarding the "abortion" speculation: In the Unabridged Journals Plath makes reference to "Elly's abortion" on p.404 --- presumably her friend Elinor Friedman from Smith, typically referred to as "Elly" throughout the UJ. I would guess that Plath felt she "knew" about abortion because of her friend's experience, in much the same way that she appropriated the family story of her brother Warren crawling straight into the waves of the Atlantic as her own memory in "Ocean 1212W."

Kate Moses
 San Francisco, USA
Wednesday, June 5, 2002



Hallo everybody and congratulations for this marvellous and very well done site! I'd have a question to ask. a curiosity to better say... does someone knows what necklace, how it was made, had sylvia? (we just see a little piece of necklace in her last pictures/1961+1962+1963, but we see no end, no stone.) Sorry for my very awful English. Thanks very much to the person who will help me! kisses, Alexandra.

Alexandra
 Florence, Italy
Wednesday, June 5, 2002



Hey, Peter,

Here I go into speculation land... Regarding the reference to abortion in Plath's Journals as something she knows about, here's one possible interpretation (with the usual "what do I know about anything" caveat!). During Plath's Smith years, I'd bet that abortion was a hot, if hushed, topic. Birth control was so forbidden during that time that back-alley abortions were probably fairly common, and in an all-girl's school must have been frequently discussed. Given the morals of the time, girls who got abortions were no doubt treated cruelly, labeled sluts, etc. So the cruelty may not only have been something Plath was party to, but witness to as well. The fear of pregnancy during that time must have been very strong; if she'd had an abortion, it would have haunted her on many levels. Especially given how badly she wanted to become a mother in later years.

Another point is her Three Women poem. If abortion were part of her history, I wonder if she would have included it there? She included someone giving up a child for adoption, which was maybe a slightly more socially acceptable way to deal with an unplanned pregnancy in those days, but since we know Plath didn't tend to shy away from controversial topics, it seems like she would have covered that somewhere in her work, especially in the Ariel poems, when she seems to have been freed from any prior restraints.

As usual, just speculation. After falling for the "re-discovered Plath journals" hoax a month or two ago, I'm even more suspicious of unsubstantiated claims, both old and new.

Amy Rea
 Eden Prairie, USA
Monday, June 3, 2002



I read Sandra Lester's poem "Candy Cotton Kid and the Faustian Wolf" a couple of months ago when a local journalist asked me for my opinion on it. I was outraged by the unsubstantiated allegations she made against Frank Schober and Ted Hughes and wrote an article for the "Hebden Bridge Times". At the time I decided not to draw any attention to Lester's work on the Forum because I felt that these assertions were so distressing for the Hughes and Schober families. However, now that others have begun the discussion, I have now placed a copy of my article in the Review section of this Forum

People may be interested to know that the Halifax Evening Courier (24th. April 2002) published an article about Ms. Lester's poem in which she revealed that she had initiated an "intense" relationship with the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper stating that she "felt guided to write to him." She believes that there are similarities between this notorious murderer and the late Ted Hughes! One of her grounds for this are that they both loved the countryside!

Plath and Hughes continue to attract the strangest types of speculation....

Elaine Connell
 Hebden Bridge , UK
Monday, June 3, 2002



Right on Amy! Sandra Lester's accusations against Frank Schober, or any claim against "all the long gone darlings" in Plath's time and world are absurd. It might be a case where Lester is displacing her own psychological issues onto Plath's.

I think more than one so-called biographer of Plath has claimed that she had an abortion. The good thing is, the abortion-speak is in the "unauthorized" biographies, phew! This is also something we should be nervous about reading and being taken for truth. Before we count our chickens, though, in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, for the entry dated 28 August 1957, on page 306 & 307, Sylvia Plath, whilst writing about incidents and ideas for her writings, does write,

"The moors and Cambridge. Paris & Benidorm - to master these places and people. Abortion. Suicide. Affairs. Cruelty. All those I know. How everything shrinks on return - you can't go home again...."

We know she tried to commit suicide (1953). We know she had affairs (thanks to Richard Norton lead). We know she was cruel (to Peter Davison, etc.). So, why would she write in abortion there as something she knows?

Peter K Steinberg
 Boston, USA
Monday, June 3, 2002



I think Kellaway gets it right when she describes the strangeness of Birthday Letters: "They are territorial poems in which Hughes retains an illusion of the private space that once existed between them (hard when Plath has become public property). At the same time they are written for a public and to set a record straight; when he addresses poems to "you" it seems a slippery conceit."

Ironic that she can describe his dilema so well, and then ignore it. I like her observation that "Hughes refers to Plath's own poems as if they were the enemy..he describes them as if they were physical, an extra body part..." but disagree with her view that his descriptions of Sylvia were "painterly, dispassionate." The intensity of detail seems loving to me, painterly in his desire to get it right perhaps; but that fierce longing to fix her likeness in totality is tributary, not journalistic.

Nowhere does Kellaway imagine how the singularity of Hughes' plight warped the shape of his grief. One reads the poems and watches him swing back and forth, blaming himself, then blaming Plath, the Stars, the Fates, what have you...One senses his rage and sorrow seeking a target; he cannot bear too long to point the arrow at himself. This creates a tension in the poems themselves; the lesser poems, belabored, defensive, almost argue against the stronger ones. I would be interested in reading a more thoughtful treatment of the poems individually, instead of more pronouncements about the whole. I agree with Kellway that the last poem is a kind of shock, but not because he grieves selflessly for her; he does that in other poems as well; the problem is that he achieves no lasting peace with her memory, with their marriage. I felt a sense of loss for another, still unspoken poem that he was unable to write.

Kellaway's article, and our responses, bring up again the question, does their story, and the form of Ted Hughes' reply, predetermine our response to his work? Must what one takes away from Birthday Letters be only informed by whose side one takes in the story? When will we be able to stop judging him, while ostensibly judging his work? I liked the question Hugh posed in his response to the article: Is not fury a permissable response to suicide? I would add, is not fury a permissable response to grief?

Jen Zereski
 Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Monday, June 3, 2002



Amy, Well, I didnt take the content of the extract of Sandra Lester's verse entirely seriously. It just shocked me that she would make such a claim when no evidence of this has ever been brought to light. I think it's probably more SL's sick invention then anything else but I was still interested to know what other people thought of her "ideas" especially since the forum had been fairly quiet lately.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Monday, June 3, 2002



Candy Cotton Kid and the Faustian Wolf took one year to compose from research through to completion; it is a new theory in the form of free verse, on the American poet Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes the Poet Laureate, their relationship, marriage, Hughes' infidelity and how Plath's early childhood experiences were inextricably linked to her suicide in London in 1963. Link to Sandra Lester's page: http://www.artradicals.com/poetry.htm The book is reviewed on New Hope International Review On-line:

The new book/theory was nominated for the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for poetry 2002.

Ivy
 Melbourne, Australia
Monday, June 3, 2002



Stephanie, regarding Uncle Frank. Who knows? I wasn't there. But--when you're dealing with a cultural icon like Plath, there are all kinds of stories that spring up. I am rather doubtful. I can't believe Plath would have not covered something like that extensively in her poetry somewhere. One of the more recent biographers (Ronald Hayman, maybe?) suggested she had had an abortion at one time, but didn't provide a lot of evidence for that, and while it's certainly titillating, it seems more like grandstanding than serious scholarly research. IMHO.

Amy Rea
 Eden Prairie, USA
Sunday, June 2, 2002



In case anyone tried to fill out Luisa's questionnaire yesterday and was met with error messages, I just wanted to let you know that it's now fixed. I contacted Luisa yesterday and she replied today letting me know that it's now working correctly. I've since filled the questionnaire out and everything went fine so for those who were going to help her out, you can now do so : )

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Saturday, June 1, 2002



Hello all! I am desperately searching for a poem by Sylvia Plath entitled "Sonnet For a Green Eyed Sailor." It was actually part of a letter written to one of her suitors in 1955, and submitted to a publisher (which one, I do not know.) If anyone could tell me where to obtain a copy of this poem, I would be very appreciative! Thanks so much

Lindsay Baranowski
 Munster, IN, USA
Saturday, June 1, 2002



I recently read an extract of Sandra Lester's "Cotton Candy Kid And The Faustian Wolf" and I was astonished at the accusation that SP's Uncle Frank possibly sexually abused her as child. I've never read anything of this sort in any biography etc. and even though I personally don't believe there is any truth to this, I just wanted to ask what other's think? I think it's an awfully heavy accusation to make when, as far as I know, there is no evidence to indicate this ever occurred at all.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Saturday, June 1, 2002



Please contribute to my work! I am a PhD student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. I have been writing my thesis on Sylvia Plath for just over 3 years. At present, I am particularly interested in her value as a cultural icon. I want to know why, for example, so many of us know who she was, and why we take the time to read and contribute to web pages like this one. To try and get an answer to this and some other questions, I have put together a survey that can be found on the web at the following address:

www.arts.unsw.edu.au/english/Plath/general.html

I would really appreciate your help on this. Thanks.

Luisa Webb
 Sydney, Australia
Thursday, May 30, 2002



Although there is much to be read in that blue jewel given Plath's extensive use of colors, I agree that it does not seem like the strongest line with which to end Hughes's collection. Erica Wagner notes, In Ariel's Gift, her study of Birthday Letters, how Plath wrote to her mother, "Ted never liked blue..." Who knows if Plath was writing the truth or not, but the words cast yet another layer of complexity or intrigue.

Pamela
 Boston, USA
Thursday, May 30, 2002



I found Kellaway's article rather superficial, although the comparison bewteen these poetic memorials is certainly potentially interesting (especially as a mirror to how different eras deal with death)! Is fury not a permissable response to suicide, along with grief? It is certainly common. All the circumstances of Plath's death and the responses of some extremists makes Hughes' anger quite understandable, especially in a poet where the darker emotions are always pulsing beneath the skin. And wasn't it Plath's "American-ness" that caused so many tensions, both within herself and between her and Hughes?

Hugh
 Wethersfield, UK
Thursday, May 30, 2002



Advertised in the TLS:
Giving Up: The last days of Sylvia Plath by Jillian Becker.
Pb, iv + 44pp. 5 pounds post-free
Ferrington, The Bookshop, 31-35
Gt Ormond St. London WC1N 3HZ
Cheques payable: M.Rogers.

Douglas Clark
 Bath, England
Thursday, May 30, 2002



I disagreed with most of what Kellaway said about Hughes. I don't think the majority of Birthday Letters reads as bitter accusation toward Plath -- on the contrary, the poems seem to marvel at her, sifting through details often physical (but don't we fixate on the faces of lovers, staring at them as endlessly as we do?) and sometimes behavioral or emotional. Often Hughes is capable of startlingly brute, tender emotion, as when he says of watching Plath get ready to teach her first day at Smith, that he felt he saw before him "the lonely girl who was going to die." That entire poem is suffused with sympathy for Plath's struggle to assemble a public self -- her ghastly blue suit, her pale 'greeny' face beneath a cornet of braids (what a sad hairstyle, very un-hip, one would imagine, even then). But I especially think the last line of the book "But the jewel you lost was blue" is NOT a good representation of Hughes mourning Plath properly. It rather seems a somewhat restrained, detached expression of dissociation from the intensity that elsewhere he's able to celebrate. Certainly, one could wish Plath had felt more often kind, good-natured and practical, the qualities (I think -- I'm writing this at work without the book handy) Hughes associated with blue as opposed to stormily angry and despairing, which he associated with red, her death-obsession color. No one would want their spouse to be dominated by their devils. But I found the last line of Birthday Letters to be a letdown. I might have ended with another poem -- perhaps the one that ends "It was only a story, after all. Your story. My story." Or "Forever bending at your coffin." Perhaps these are too somber as endings -- perhaps Hughes meant deliberately to twist the tone toward Apollonian reason at the end. But I regretted it.

Kristina Eldredge
 Brooklyn, USA
Tuesday, May 28, 2002



Hi. I desperately need to find a french-language translation of Sylvia's poem "The Disquieting Muses" and very quickly. Does anyone have one? Or can point me in the right direction?

I am an artist, and I quoted the poem in one of my videos which I suddenly must dub into French and I cannot translate it myself, it is far too complex. Thank you very much!

Christy Denes
 New York, USA
Tuesday, May 28, 2002



I found Kellaway's article rather superficial, although the comparison bewteen these poetic memorials is certainly potentially interesting (especially as a mirror to how different eras deal with death)! Is fury not a permissable response to suicide, along with grief? It is certainly common. All the circumstances of Plath's death and the responses of some extremists makes Hughes' anger quite understandable, especially in a poet where the darker emotions are always pulsing beneath the skin. And wasn't it Plath's "American-ness" that caused so many tensions, both within herself and between her and Hughes?

Hugh
 Wethersfield, UK
Tuesday, May 28, 2002



An interesting article written by Kate Kellaway, literary editor of the Observer, compares four writers' (Milton, Hardy, Dunn, Hughes) poetry written to/for their dead wives. She is particularly critical of Hughes, accusing him of using the poems to vent fury rather than grief. She notes how in many of the poems he pits Plath's "American ways" against his own superior (she hints) frame of reference. She writes that "Hughes seems to be impersonating Plath, not reviving her." Toward the end of her critique, however, she assesses his poem "Red," and writes, "And the last line in the book, 'But the jewel you lost was blue' comes as a shock because it achieves what is missing elsewhere. It grieves selflessly for her-as the best poems about dead wives should."

Here's the link to the aricle (I found it through the arts and literature daily--www.aldaily.com--site):

Be curious to hear what others think.

Pamela
 Boston, USA
Sunday, May 26, 2002



Anymore information on this new book by Jillian Becker? I haven't seen any other articles regarding this subject. It would be interesting to know if it's going to be publish in North America as well as in the UK.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Sunday, May 26, 2002



Hi, I'm 15 years old from County Louth, Ireland, and we just studied some on Sylvia's poems in English ... she was really talented and i love her poetry. She expresses her emotions in a way that aspiring writers such as myself could only ever hope to acheive. I have an essay on three of her poems tomorrow in school; 'The Mirror,' 'The Arrival of the Bee Box' and 'Daddy.' She is an inspiration for those who have bottled up their identity and she will never be forgotten - with good reason.

Rachel K
 Dundalk, Ireland
Sunday, May 26, 2002



Dueling Plath films--does it get any better than this???
http://www.msnbc.com/news/754940.asp?0dm=C11ML

Amy Rea
 Eden Prairie, USA



I just read a review of "Proof" in which Gwyneth Paltrow debuts in her first on stage role as Catherine in the West End of London. Apparently, she does an excellent job and in the picture that accompanied the article GP looked somewhat similar to SP so perhaps her casting isnt all bad afterall (I might regret saying that if her portrayal turns out to be disappointing). I can't deny that I am interested in seeing this film when it makes its grand debut. The BBC usually makes wonderful films so I think this project is in good hands that way.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Tuesday, May 21, 2002



I recently was informed by a friend about the following book. It can be ordered at the following website http://www.novus.no.

Brita Lindberg-Seyersted
Sylvia Plath: Studies in Her Poetry and Her Personality

The main purpose of these studies about Sylvia Plath is to bring us back to a close reading of her poems as works of art, not primarily as specimens in an attempt to get at her character and her life. Of particular concern is to show in detail how she uses non-realistic devices, which make up an important part of her poetic profile. The author also shows how Plaths sense of humor, so often neglected by critics, can be expressed, for example by the use of slang. One essay focuses on her as a woman poet and tests the relevance of feminist theories about socio-economic and cultural conditions for her and her predecessor Emily Dickinsons work. A concluding essay analyses and assesses the biographical treatment of the poet and, among other things, examines how biographers have interpreted the relationship between her life and her poetry. Cheers

Peter K Steinberg
 Boston, USA
Tuesday, May 21, 2002



Matt, I think you may be referring to Plath's letter to her mother of Monday 8 April 1957. It's in the book Letters Home (page 306 in my paperback edition)-

Rehan A Qayoom
 London, England
Tuesday, May 21, 2002



How many different variations of the same story can you have? There have been countless books written about SP now and all of them contain the same or slightly different information. I don't see how Jillian Becker's account is going to reveal any facts that aren't already known. A lot of what was said in the article is stuff we all already know although it'll be interesting to read more about the censorship topic.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Monday, May 20, 2002



Thanks, Stephanie, for directing me to the selling sites. Pretty much beyond my means, but I can at least drool over tempting titles.

What exactly governs the availability of texts on-line, I wonder? It's the knowledge to be gathered from them that I want, not the ownership of an object. Has anyone else out there any comment to make on this?

Particularly with SP, the power of her intellect is as extrordinary as her creativity and insights gained in one field feed appreciation of the other. So access to, e.g., her academic writing would provide a wealth of understanding, directly from source and without the mediation of A.N.Other's analysis.

And so to Kelly, on the perils of analysis: "I've seen students, cutting up cadavers ..." (JP & the Bible of Dreams). I sympathise with your reservations. Perhaps, if analysis is thought of as viewing a work through a variety of filters, in order to bring into focus particular attributes that it has -- linguistic, socio-cultural resonances, etc -- then it's possible to separate this process from that glorious feeling of impact "on the plasm direct" (D.H.Lawrence,"Tortoise Shout") which SP delivers so profoundly. Reading out loud and clear to oneself some favoured poem is, I've found, a grand antidote to the tribulations of academic essay-writing. Try "A Sorcerer Bids Farewell to Seem".

Kate
 Bath, UK
Monday, May 20, 2002







Hello My name is Jessica and I just recently finished The Bell Jar. It touched me very deeply. I am in eight grade and LOVE poetry. I recently moved schools for the first itme in my life and it has been wonderful. I just wanted to say that Sylvia Plath touched me even if I had to have a dictionary every time I started to read. LOL

Jessica James Scovel
 Los Alamos, USA
Monday, May 20, 2002



Hi. I've loved sylvia plath since I discovered several of her quotes in an album sleeve. I was impressed with what she had to say, and when I saw a schools programme on her several years ago it sealed my love for her work. I have recently brought the book 'Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams', which is amazing and I have never felt like I belonged the way I do when I read her work. I was wondering wether writing coursework on her would be a good idea, as I'm scared that over-analysis would ruin the magic of the book(The Bell Jar). What do others think?

'what did my hands do before they held you?'

Kelly Richards
 Exeter, England
Monday, May 20, 2002



Hi All, I also wanted to say in connection with my post to Kate that "The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers" is an excellent place to find SP first editions/rare books etc. plus you can also find the same on TH as well. The prices range from exceptional to steep...all depending on what you're looking for. There have been several things I would have purchased if it wasn't for the fact that I'm a student so all my coinage goes towards books and tuition but for those that can spend a reasonable amount of money this is an excellent site for all things SP. Here's the address for the site again: http://www.ilab-lila.com

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Friday, May 17, 2002



I don't suppose anyone has that quote about Sylvia Plath writing in something like 'the blue light before dawn' to hand?

Matt Bryden
 York, England
Friday, May 17, 2002



Hi Kate, I recently saw a copy of Magic Mirror going on Ebay for $31.00 GBP although I'm sure it'll end up costing more then that when the auction is over. You can also try doing a search on www.abebooks.com or www.ilab-lila.com both specialize in rare/used books etc. You may be able to find a copy of this at a decent price on either one of those sites. I would search "Magic Mirror" first and then if nothing comes up then search "Sylvia Plath".I'm guessing you've tried libraries etc. but if you havent that would also be a good place to look. Good luck with your search :).

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Wednesday, May 15, 2002



I'm a 22 year old widely published poet, London born & bred. I've recited in symposiums across the world & have received numerous awards for my work. I'm currently reading English at Birkbeck College, University of London.

I've been to see Sylvia Plath's London flats at 3 Chalcot Square where I chatted briefly with a friendly neighbour and then to 23 Fitzroy Road (just round the corner) where she lived just before her death and I humbly stood outside the house where she gassed herself in 1963

I've also visited her homes by night (twice) in order to complete a poetic rite. On 1 such occasion as I was outside, I had with me a copy of the Tickenham edition of Pope's poems, (Pope, incidentally, is my second most favourite poet {after Auden}, Plath my third-Though she would've always wanted to be second or first and in that order too)!!!I dropped the book right outside her home & it damaged it, it was ironic as Sylvia had done that to Ted Hughes's copy of the works of Shakespeare. Maybe I can share with you the poem I wrote when I've accomplaished it. As I plan to do so from my notes after my exams are over!

Lastly I must say this is a brilliant website & a fitting tribute to Plath, I've been looking at it for years now but have never written, until now!

Sylvia's my muse & needs to be conjured up!

Rehan A Qayoom
 London, England
Tuesday, May 14, 2002



Her genius lies in her capacity to render death and misery disturbingly beautiful. The intensity with which she experiences every situation (ex. Tulips) leaves me in awe of the dimensions which existed in her mind. One of the things that I love most about this poem is the rythm- "And there is a charge, a very large charge/for a look, or a touch/or a bit of blood," and "The big strip-tease/Gentlemen, Ladies/These are my hands, my knees."

Read these parts and focus on the rythm: it's truly incredible.

Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:

'A miracle!'
That knocks me out.
There is a charge

For the eyeing my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart---
It really goes.

And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood

Or a piece of my hair on my clothes.

I've been reading Sylvia Plath since I was 14, which is when I first read "The Rival", which literally moved me to tears.

Yana Najjar
 Beirut, Lebanon
Tuesday, May 14, 2002



SP's thesis, The Magic Mirror ... can anyone advise me how to access this text? I know there was a limitted printing by Embers Handpress, Powys, but I'm hoping there's an alternative that doesn't involve selling-the-silver expenditure. Also, any comments on the relationship between "Johnny Panic" and the American Dream ("health and money, money and health") ... ?

Kate
 Bath, UK
Tuesday, May 14, 2002



More on Ryan Adam's song, 'I wish I had a Sylvia Plath'. In Stride magazine, Matt Bryden advances theories on Ryan Adams and his literary desire. The essay makes intriguing exploratory connections between Plath, rock 'n' roll and muse-dom. It also briefly discusses Birthday Letters and Plath's poetry.


Melbourne, Australia
Thursday, May 9, 2002



I run a 50 seat pub theatre in Islington, north London. I thought some people might be interested to know that from May 7-17 we are presenting "Sylvia Plath A Dramatic Portrait" originally conceived and adapted from her writing by Barry Kyle for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The evening illuminates the life and work of Sylvia Plath and is beautifully performed by three actors, Patti Holloway, Josie Gradwell and Jane Lee Redman. Tuesday-Saturday 8.00pm and Sunday 4.00 8/6 (concessions) all seats 5 on Tuesday. Reserve seats by e-mailing me or ring the box ofice machine on 020 7704 6665, you can pay on the door when you arrive.

For more information look on our website

PS the pub does good food before the show.

Cecilia Darker
 London, UK
Thursday, May 9, 2002



Hello, I'm a graduate student studying at the University of Sheffield in England. Just thought I'd write in the hope that someone will know the answer to this question (and any source for further information!):

Did Sylvia Plath ever read any Heidegger?

[I'm just being speculative about the link at the moment, if she did then it would certainly help the thesis of an essay I'm writing!]

Andrew Jeffre
 Sheffield, England
Wednesday, May 8, 2002



During a trip to the Boston area in July, I'd like to visit the graves of Aurelia and Otto Plath. Can anyone fill me in on where they are and how to get to them? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Steve Gorrell
 Champaign, Illinois, USA
Wednesday, May 8, 2002



You are right Jim, I meant to use the word "book" instead of "novel" since I know "Burnt Diaries" is a memoir, but no title had been mentioned and the memory of this awful book was still fresh in my mind so I thought that Amy meant this book when she said "dreadful novel". My mistake... Sorry Amy.

Don't waste your money on Emma Tennant's books folks, she is cashing in on all her name droppings and gossip.

Cressida Hope-Bunting
 Alabama, USA
Wednesday, May 8, 2002



Cressida, I think that the novel Amy was referring to was the book called "Sylvia and Ted", not "Burnt Diaries", which is a memoir, not a novel. While I agree that the novel was dreadful, I think that the memoir ("Burnt Diaries") actually contains some real insights into Hughes' emotional and psychological character, and portrays some aspects of Hughes personality that we don't see elsewhere, and is therefore worth reading. Although we may not be interested in the history of "Bananas", it was the magazine that gave her access to Hughes' work in the first and that was how she came to meet him; so it makes sense, in a memoir about her relationship to Hughes, that she would want to provide this background. And I did find it mildly interesting that she was rubbing shoulders, as it were, with people like Warhol and Bruce Chatwin.

Jim Long
 Honolulu HI, USA
Monday, May 6, 2002



I agree with Amy about Emma Tennant's dreadful novel, it was so badly written one cannot imagine how it ever came to be published in the first place. It was an absolute con to market it as "Burnt Diaries" indicating as a hook to the readers that there would be untold revelations about the missing diaries. Apart from her short torrid affair with Hughes during the time he was married to his second wife, there is nothing else in the book even mildly interesting. Who cares about her life with "Bananas"? If one bought the book under a false impression, misled by the publishers, expectations are high and when not met, one feels cheated. In my (not so humble opinion) the book is a fraud. The edition I bought was even sold with a picture of Ted Hughes on the front!

About the opera Amy! Do you want it on the lines of the Giuseppe Verdi operas - La Traviata, Rigoletto, Aida (with imagination there are similarities, the heroine usually dies) or more of a comic opera, say perhaps in the Gilbert and Sullivan style?

Cressida Hope-Bunting
 Alabama, USA
Monday, May 6, 2002



As I said, I wasn't objecting to SP's use of holocaust imagery I was merely saying that there are people out there who could be and are offended by it and I'm sure anyone who is offended by this kind of imagery has their own reasons for it and perhaps,no arguement trying to convince them to the contrary is going to be successful.

It is certainly within FH's right to prohibit the use of either one of her parent's poetry to be used in this film. I just think, without the poetry, the film will end up being like some kind of tabloid. It won't be highlighting their works (which is the most important thing)it will be showcasing the demise of their marriage and the ultimate demise of SP.

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Friday, May 3, 2002

One can hardly blame Frieda and Nicholas for being wary of giving away rights; one reading of Emma Tennant's dreadful novel about Sylvia and Ted is enough to give any family member the creeps.

Instead, I think the Hughes' should consider commissioning someone to compose an opera. I'm serious, now -- my local opera recently staged a new opera based on the old Louisa May Alcott chestnut, Little Women, and it was wonderful; the composer/librettist took a few liberties with the text, mostly in heavy editing, and created an opera that was relevant and moving. Just think what someone could do with the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes...it might be awful, but in the right hands, it could be remarkable.

Amy Rea
 Eden Prairie, USA
Thursday, May 2, 2002



Stephanie, I don't think it's a question of comparing the loss of her father with the loss of whole families to the Holocaust. That's looking at it from the survivors' point of view. But Sylvia wasn't looking at it that way; she was looking at it from the point of view of identifying with the victims - her father wasn't the one who was subject to the "man in black with the Mein Kampf look", she was. And she has earned her right to claim her status as a victim exactly because she has been "burned alive along all [her] nerves" ("I sizzled in his blue volts like a desert prophet"), along with those other victims whose suffering she invokes (the Rosenbergs, Joan of Arc, etc.). As in "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus", she has a certain pride in being one of the "chosen" people ("I believe I have a call" LL) to have survived this death-in-life experience. That's why those who are so offended by her co-opting "their" suffering have no claim to speak - they haven't seen the inside of the fiery furnace. She has.

Jim Long
 Honolulu HI, USA
Thursday, May 2, 2002



Here is a link to another, longer article about the possible upcoming movie about SP and TH. According to the article, Frieda Hughes has prohibited the use of *any* of SP and TH's poetry in the film. I'm curious to know what sort of movie this will be without the poetry. It seems to me, without the permission to at least quote lines from some of their poems, the film will only be highlighting the demise of their marriage and SP's suicide.

www.murphsplace.com/crowe/hughes.html

The original source of this article is "The Sunday Times" although the link goes to it's posting on a Russell Crowe fan page :).

Stephanie
 Ottawa, Canada
Wednesday, May 1, 2002



Well, Cressida,

Just that there is a certain mindset, not only Germanic, that goes from Blut und Ehre outward. This goes with the whole question of witchcraft and how Plath and Hughes expressed their respective paganisms, bearing in mind always that as any grad professor will tell you, the passing of all things is the core of Western-Greek thought. I have read the Journals. Naive was the wrong word, but my thinking was imprecise. I simply think Hughes was a blunter needle than Plath. But then, I'm male, so things that might seem artful to a female seem simple to me; and vice versa. In some ways the Plath-hughes debate reminds me of an old saw of people who work in mental hospitals--that women psychopaths can fool the men but not the women, and vice versa. So I don't know how apposite that is, but I'm sure it figures in this debate somewhere, since both Plath and Hughes were using madness as a touchstone, to a certain extent; but then, any real poet does. The "glamorous fatality" of Greek myth, and the mythic worldview...

This probably has just confused things more, but there it is.

Kenneth Jones
 Berkeley, USA
Wednesday, May 1, 2002






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