|
April 2004 I not only find the obviously sexist perspective in this article repulsive, but the bias expressed in the final paragraph: "The research perhaps contains a salutary lesson for any ageing poets still struggling to pen that perfect verse and keen not to join the ranks of the dead poets' society: turn to prose." Basically, the author is encouraging any poet over the age of 28 to give up on verse and turn to prose instead -- as if "ageing poets" have nothing to offer the world of poetry that younger poets haven't already expressed. Or maybe it's that our society doesn't appreciate what they have to say, since we are collectively too wrapped up in the image and pace of youth to concern ourselves with matters of wisdom and perspective. On the whole, I find this article narrow-minded and extremely biased. Perhaps the author would have done better to draw his conclusions on what these statistics have to say about attitudes in society rather than making broad, stereotypical statements about individual artists. Jennifer
This is in response to Bridget from Columbus regarding the Sylvia Plath Archives at Indiana University. I have done research in the archive IU, as well as other Plath archives at Smith College and Kings College (Cambridge University). The archives are open to the public, but it is not like walking into the public library in town. It's best to call or email beforehand to arrange an appointment. Indiana's web site has all that good information. All the archives are overwhelming. Indiana's holdings are available online, and even if you print it out, it can be very difficult deciding where to start. At Indiana they hold scrapbooks from high school and college and early journals and letters pre-1950, when the published journals and letters commence. They are all very interesting. IU also holds many early poems and short stories, all of which are interesting. Her earlier journals are all handwritten, and often annotated with drawings that are quite accomplished. The archives are all fairly strict about handling the papers in the collection, so if it is possible to read up on the etiquette of how to hand manuscripts. At IU, the papers, and even Plath's hair, must be handled more delicately than an infant baby. There are security cameras throughout the reading room at the Lilly Library, and there is plenty of staff to enforce their policies. There is one massive lock of Plath's hair that's quite heavy; it seeing it and holding it reminded me of the line in the wonderful poem "Stings": "Though for years I have eaten dust / And dried plates with my dense hair." One visit to any of the archives will not be enough to satisfy your craving. So, it's best to keep going back. Bring either your laptop or a notebook and pencil (no pens) and let the day pass! It's often interesting that whilst you are reading the bits of the collection, passages and interesting parts of published biographies jump out at you. If you haven't already, please read the first chapter in Tracy Brain's The Other Sylvia Plath and the chapter called "The Archive" in Jacqueline Rose's The Haunting of Sylvia Plath. It should be a very highly rewarding experience, Bridget, and I'd very much like to hear about your impressions and what parts of the collection you spent your time there researching. Please email me if you have further questions! Peter K Steinberg
Hi Trish, Yes, wasn't it awful, especially his coined phrase, what was it, the Plath Syndrome or some such trash? You'll be distressed to know that the column was picked up and reported on in major news outlets, including the New York Times. Ugh. Pamela
To Naomi, the biography by Eilat Negev of Assia Wevell is tentatively scheduled to be released at either the end of (2004), or the start of the 05 year. I think we are all hoping it will be 04 aren't we? I am glad I was able to be the bearer of such good news when I first posted my comments about this upcoming bio several months ago on this forum. I think it is going to really enlighten us all, even closed minded, dichotomous thinkers like myself, who carelessly and cruelly pass judgement on others etc. (I'm trying to be funny, poke fun at myself and others who might take things a little too seriously) In any event, I know I will be there at Powell's here in town holding the first copy! Also, to Lisa Flowers, I wanted to say that your comments regarding David Wevill and the child Shura were very empathetic and compassionate, I always look forward to reading your thoughts and take on things on this forum, being as they are generally so fairminded and perceptive. I think there are a lot of people who feel sadly about what David Wevill must have suffered and did suffer and are perplexed at (his also) decades' long silence. It must be such an awkward and strange situation for him to be in the center of a long misunderstood and focused on triangle, a triangle that people still focus on as if it happened only yesterday, our own modern day Greek tragedy if you will, and to constantly have people peppering him with questions, harassing him via email with requests for "his" perspectives, "his" memories must be quite disturbing for him. I can thoroughly imagine him just shutting down, placing a protective veil over his recollections of Assia and Shura, confiding in virtually no one. I do know from what I have read of his poetry there are really no references to Assia, not in the manner that TH was able or willing to indulge in with some of his poems. I have not read his entire body of work, but from what I have read there are no clues, perhaps someone on this forum knows different, if so could you share your perspective? But I also think this part of his life, his time with Assia, is like so many of us when we are really young, it begins to dim with the passage of time, the details lose lustre in certain ways. I am sure he has other people in his life presently, a wife, children, friends, and other professors who provide him with a great deal of comfort and support. This was a small part of his life when you look at the bigger picture, his age, history and such, and while I am certain Assia and Shura, their memories in any event, are something he cherishs still to this day, it may have become for him, slightly unreal, as if perhaps it all happened to someone else. I am obviously only speculating as to this but it is what I have noticed sometimes takes place with people as they age, myself included. I think it is safe to say we all hope David Wevill is happy where he is and that maybe one day he might be willing to share his thoughts on what happened to his late wife and all the other lives who were affected so traumatically as well. More probably than not he will continue to remain silent, he has nothing to prove, his blamelessness is unquestioned as has been previously mentioned. He seems to me from what I have read of him to be much more reserved, idealistic, (in his youth) and perhaps even loyal to his beloved Assia's memory, than to spill the beans to any one at this late stage in the game. Unlike Ted who waited until the end was coming before finally defending himself against others accusations and assignment of blame, I don't see David Wevill parting with his secrets and having a few of my own, I don't blame him and I even begrudgingly applaud him. There are some things that go to the grave and should. Therresa Kennedy
I just read Diane Middlebrook's book Her Husband this weekend (which I also recommend - it gives wonderful insight into the call/response nature of Plath & Hughes poetry within their relationship to each other) and it brought out several points of interest I felt inclined to share. First, in response to the post several spaces down that asked if Hughes ever pointed the finger at Plath for his infidelity, I found some information that he did, in his way. In Her Husband, pg. 180, Middlebrook cites several letters Ted wrote to his brother , Gerald during July 1962, that "claimed to Gerald outright, without mentioning Assia, that the pressure of coexistence with Plath's extreme possessiveness had driven him away." She also cited Ted's view of "stifling domesticity" with Sylvia (2 children and a house to tend) threatening his own foremost artistic value of instinctual living, as he wrote "we can't invest body and soul for the safe future of a lot of chairs and window curtains." In other words, Ted felt betrayed in his own right, as his life with Sylvia had become something he had not bargained for -- a threat to his artistic life. Finally, in another letter to Gerald, Hughes wrote: "The one factor that nobody but close friends can comprehend is Sylvia's particular death-ray quality. In many of the most important ways she's the most gifted and capable and admirable woman I've ever met -- but, finally, impossible for me to live married to." Another very interesting part of this book is both Assia's and Ted's account of their initial sexual encounter. While it has been documented, according to one of Assia's "confidants" (a name is not given), that she set out to her visit at Court Green in "war paint" to seduce Ted Hughes, it was Hughes who made the first move toward an affair in late June by dropping by Assia's office unannounced and leaving a written note that read: "I have come to see you, despite all marriages." He had not actually slept with Assia yet when Sylvia chased him from their house in Court Green -- but Sylvia obviously felt that his openness to pursuing Assia was an infedelity in itself. Following his departure from Court Green (July 10), Ted went immediately to his old apartment where he was met by both Assia and David -- and moved within their social circles as both their "guest" until he and Assia slept together on the 13th. Interestingly, Assia told her close friend Suzette Macedo that she was repelled by Hughes after that initial encounter, expecting a "romantic interlude" and being met instead with a "violent and animal" passion that made her go "quite cold". Ted gave a similiar view of Assia to Sylvia by telling her that his affair was unpleasant as Assia was inert as "a fish on a slab." It's amazing to me that this affair ever became something significant, especially when Middlebrook went on to say that Nathaniel Tarn, Assia's close friend and confidant - especially on the subject of Hughes - had said that Assia had doubted come the end of that month that Ted would leave his wife, and expressed disinterest in continuing the affair. As a side note, several of David Wevill's colleagues are quoted in the book as describing David to be "perhaps the handsomest man I've ever known," and by another as a "Fitzgerald character" with the "look of a young Gary Cooper." This is a very different image of David Wevill than the movie Sylvia gives, and I have found nearly every other account (Bitter Fame et al.) to be entirely mute on the subject. Jennifer
Thanks, Sarah - looks like I was beaten to the punch by Olivia Cole! What really matters is that items like these drafts exist in the various archives and can now be read and researched by people who can continue to contribute to Plath's literary legacy. Ana - she might have destroyed a draft she had written, which is unfortunate; but at least there are some notes and some bits and pieces of prose that tell us what kind of stories her mind was occupied by during the early years of her marriage. Who knows what will turn up in the future? Diane Middlebrook remarks in Her Husband that Plath did not keep a diary during her illness in 1953. But in a letter from Aurelia Plath to Olwyn Hughes in 1968, about the impending publication of The Bell Jar, Aurelia writes that Plath worked partially from notes she kept during the 6 months of her illness. The letter is at Smith and is dated June 22, 1968. It's the only reference I know of that indicates Plath kept a journal at that time of her life. I would guess that if this is accurate it would have been after her 2nd set of ECT in December 1953 - but Aurelia says 6 months - and Plath was released from the hospital (perhaps too soon) in mid January 1954. If there is a journal for this time period, it might be one of the items locked up until 2013 or 2023. This is a good incentive to stay healthy and live longer, in my book.... Kim
See this link for more details on Falcon Yard. Sarah Flight
Ana Psarisch
I can appreciate the sadness expressed by Jennifer, Roberto and others about David Wevill. However, you can take solace from the fact that though he was shabbily treated, he outlived them all: Sylvia, Ted, and Assia! So maybe his blamelessness brought some reward after all. Trish
Kim's great post about visiting some SP archives in Atlanta (was it?) has given me the motivation to go ahead and visit SP's Collection at Indiana University. I live in Columbus, about three and a half hours away from IU, and it would be a shame if I never went and visited, living as close to it as I do. What I'd like to know is, first, has anybody here ever visited those archives at IU? And secondly, I'm curious as to people's reactions at viewing her collected archives. What did you feel upon seeing what she saw and feeling what she felt? I just can't even imagine fingering the same paper she typed, say, a journal entry on, a journal entry that I have read over and over in her Unabridged Journals. I also read that IU has a lock of her hair-imagine! As an extra note, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this website and forum--what a great place, and with such great people. Bridget
Pamela, thank you for posting that ridiculous report from Dr. Kaufman, where he states (but offers absolutely no proof) that female poets are much more likely to suffer from mental illness than male poets. I was glad to see that it was published in an "obscure publication". I'm afraid that posting it here gives that stupidity more exposure than it deserves. Not only was it offensive to women, but equally offensive to anyone who suffers from mental illness. I can think of a number of famous male poets who suffered from depression and other illnesses, but won't insult anyone's intelligence by listing them here. Why must SP's name be synonymous with mental illness (horrors!) and not with the blazingly original quality of her poetry? Trish
Susan U: I wish you well on your study of Plath's involvement in the occult. It's an interesting subject that seems to exist mainly on anectodal information. While there's little doubt she believed in supernatural phenomenon, she also had a skeptic's attitude towards simple explanations. I myself find Plath the skeptic more interesting than Plath the cultist, but there is plenty of evidence that she was drawn to the mystical, particularly after she met Ted Hughes. Apparently, she thought of herself as clairvoyant, and a lot of what she heard from her husband fed into that belief. But I don't think her conversion to the "occult" ran very deep. As Al Alvarez wrote in his book, she was too practical--too American--to believe in shamans and "the baleful influence of the stars." She seems more interested in the mythologies of different cultures and old-fashioned ghost stories, material which she believed revealed some collective human unconsciousness. This material was the impetus for some of her greatest poetry. Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough for it to congeat into a single viewpoint. That's one reason why her poems never settled on a single attitude. She kept searching for something to really believe in right up to the end. Paul Snyder
Just a quick additional note to add that Falcon Yard is cited several times in Diane Middlebrook's Her Husband - an intuitive and evenhanded book about the Plath/Hughes marraige that I highly recommend. Falcon Yard is also included in the index to Plath's "complete" journals. I don't know if Ann Stevenson had access to all the pages of Plath's journals when writing her biography, so that may be one reason why, at the time of writing, she stated that Falcon Yard did not exist. My one regret is that I had a limited amount of time to spend in the archives and did not note what the Bardo Thodal draft pages had written on them. Since there was often a lot of 'sympathy' between what Plath wrote on one side of a draft and Hughes wrote on the other, the insight might have been very interesting. I guess I'll have to go back to Atlanta, or get the information from someone else who decides to make the trek. Kim
While there are many knowable things about Assia Wevill (most of them, presumably, will be in the forthcoming biography), it is difficult to know exactly how she felt in the summer of 1962.? Accounts of her differ, but one portrait that seems accurate enough to me is by her writer friend William Trevor, (in Excursions in the Real World) who sensed in her behavior the incipient 60s devil-may-care attitude, with perhaps some more personal fatalistic whatever-happens-happens on the side.? I don’t know if Assia went down to Devon on a personal mission to see Hughes in person and seduce him, but she could have, and I think probably did sense, that there was some tension in the Hughes/Plath household; if Ruth Fainlight could see it, I don’t know why she wouldn’t.? If she didn’t go down on a mission, it could well be she came back with one, the way, say, you go out to shop intending to buy one thing and then come across something else much more interesting, and get that instead.? I don’t like to talk about her so coldly, but this is what her behavior looks like, to me; a woman slightly bored, looking for something extra, something more, different, who got much more than she bargained for. I cannot imagine she wanted more than that, a fling, but found herself with a man who was crazy for her (temporary insanity, I think, is the term) and did not know what to do.? Plath, in the meantime, was trying her best to be a triple-threat woman - mother, housewife, writer - and was understandably outraged to find out that this was not enough, and by the fall had had more than enough of his absences and lies.? In the movie Sylvia, there are multiple scenes of Plath’s anxiety over Hughes’s whereabouts, as well as scenes where he is surrounded by fawning female admirers.? Plath was able to control herself after a while (compare her reactions to the female student in 1958 by Paradise Pond and in 1962, in North Tawton) - because she was more mature and had the bulwark of her children to support her - I think if Assia (or a woman like her) had shown up in 1959 then things would have dissolved almost immediately.? By 1962 Plath had a lot at stake - not just children but also a new house, her incredible creative voice which she had finally found (in prose and poetry), and other more intangible things.? Assia was up against not just Hughes’s unpredictable passions but Plath’s sense that everything was just so - she really did have everything she wanted - and then Assia shows up and ruins everything.? As for Hughes - his poems on Court Green show an impending doom, a tragedy waiting to happen, if not certain death.? If he could have expressed this in some way to Plath (who, really, I don’t think, wanted to live so far away from London) they could have struck a deal to fix up Court Green and then leave, after x years, back to London.? But it is impossible to change anything - Plath’s domestic cocooning and possessive streak, Hughes’s secret fears of death and sense of doom, and Assia’s hapless desire to have her cake and eat it, too. Lena
Does anyone know when Eilat Negev's biography on Assia Wevill is due to be published? Naomi Richards
For Jennifer K.C. of Seattle: For the past thirty years David Wevill, now in his late sixties, has lived in Austin, Texas, and his poetry has been appearing in his native Canada (Exile Editions, Toronto). I found on the internet, I too wondered if he was still alive and well now I know. I do agree that it is a shame about what he has gone through with his late wife. Roberto
For Karen U - There's an interesting article on the influence of occultism in the life and work of Sylvia Plath. Chiara
On just a side note, I think I read somewhere, possibly in Ronald Hayman's Death and Life of Sylvia Plath, but am not quite sure, that Esther Greenwood was also the protagonist of Double Exposure. Sebastian
Jennifer, I really enjoyed reading your two posts that were recently shown on the Forum and your perspective is really quite reasonable. I gained a lot from your take on things, much more fair, logical and reasonable than I tend to be. Nobody's perfect, least of all me. As to Emma Tennant, I think it has been established by several other sources that she did indeed have an on again off again relationship with TH. She has written a rather horrible novel called Sylvia and Ted I believe that is the title, (I sold it rather promptly after reading it) furious that I had been duped into buying such a horrible book. It is what basically amounts to a steamy romance novel. Oh my God did I get hives! She also wrote another really poor book, a memoir called Burnt Diaries also a terrible example of her rather limited writing skills. If one is a high school Freshman her writing might be considered fairly good but to anyone with any knowledge of writing, even if only a small knowledge, it was what I found to be a choppy, incomplete and thoroughly confusing "memoir". I have read a little back ground on her and she has admitted in interviews that she didn't begin writing fiction or any other type of writing until she was exactly 40 years old. One can tell I must say. One is left with the feeling that she is indeed capitalizing on her connection to TH. I can't see any self respecting publisher seriously considering publishing the dross she produces, with the exception of her children's books, which I think due to the more simple demands of the genre she is able to excel at. But when you read some of her work it is amazing to think that an editor actually okayed the final manuscript, it's stunning really. She is the author of some higly praised childrens books and my own daughter Amelia absolutely loved her book entitled The Bogart reading it a total of about four or five times, about a funny little spirit who gets into trouble while hitching a ride with a family. As to her writing of adult subject matter, literature with believable characters etc she leaves little to be desired and I also found some of her claims in Burnt Diaries to be a bit far fetched, a bit vindictive, the story about the bad fish that Ted cooked come on! Dishing the dirt on the other women in his life was a little bit sour grapey too, she knew he had numerous lovers, what did she expect his fidelity? I think she is a good writer of children's stories and she does have an interesting take on things as she had her own experiences with TH but as to her ability to write good fiction or nonfiction that adults will enjoy, forget it, it's not worth spending your money on! Therresa Kennedy
Hello Kim-Thank you for the rare and fascinating information. There really does seem to be room to hope in the respect that there could be papers "out there" that could one day be published. I was wondering what other things you were able to look at while you were going through the papers, were there photographs as well? What was the scope of the material that you saw, a great deal or just a bit? Once again, thank you so much for the information, it was unexpected and a real treat. Therresa Kennedy
Jennifer's wise and perceptive comments about David Wevill struck a profound chord with me; as this is the very subject that the many who have felt compelled to defend and mourn/excuse Assia's actions have consistently failed to touch upon (I'm not necessarily referring to people on this forum per se, by the way, just commenting on some of the many written testaments out there that have attempted to exonerate Wevill...memoirs, etc). The tragedy of Shura, specifically, is more often than not swept up and validated WITHIN the despair of Wevill herself; when the fact, of course, is that the child had a very real, very vivid life of her own that she must have taken great joy and pleasure in ( as children will)-and, most importantly, a fate of her own ...which was finally swallowed up and digested by the self imposed fate of her mother. David Wevill was...and no doubt still is...a virtuous, dignified, courageous, and long suffering man. The fact that he loved Assia and stood by her speaks volumes about his character. Certainly he was the polar opposite of her, and certainly he must have hung in there with great dedication and perserverance, thinking he would finally help her. In a way, her taking Shura with her was more of an insult to David than it was to Ted, though I'm sure at that point Assia had dismissed that consideration, if she had ever had it in the first place. It makes me wonder, really, where the line between universal empathy and individual ethics ends. If to "understand all is to forgive all", where then does justice, morality, and, for that matter, individual opinion enter the picture? When it was revealed how and why Susan Smith had killed her children, nobody rallied to her defense, nor should they have. A suicide bomber who walks into a building with explosives strapped to his chest, and takes out several hundred souls with him....is he also to be pitied and defended; is he also to be interpreted as a deeply troubled victim of circumstance, whose confusion and misdirected rage finally just made him do it? Somebody should write a story, perhaps in the vein of "Ted And Sylvia" about what Shura's final hour or so on earth must have been like...being given sleeping pills by her weeping and agitated mother; whether or not she was still conscious when Assia dragged the mattress up next to the stove; and what she must have thought about that, with her wide open child's mind... how trustingly she must have taken that cup, never thinking to believe that the hand she loved above all others in the world would be the one to snuff her out of the same. Anyway, excellent points, Jennifer. Lisa A. Flowers
Anybody else find this offensive? And it's worse for female poets, according to Dr Kaufman. "Female poets were much more likely to suffer from mental illness (eg, be hospitalised, commit suicide, attempt suicide) than any other kind of writer, and more likely than other eminent women," he told Reuters. "I've dubbed this the 'Sylvia Plath effect'." From a reported study by James Kaufman, an assistant professor of psychology at California. Pamela
Double Exposure (or Double Take) is reputed to be the second novel that Plath was writing about her marriage (and its breakdown) to Ted Hughes. Ronald Hayman in The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath writes that according to Ted Hughes, Plath typed about one hundred and thirty pages of it, but that the manuscript disappeared somewhere around 1970. Note the year, as that is the date Hughes gave for the ‘disappearance’ of at least one of Plath's last journals. Hayman says that Judith Kroll saw an outline of the novel and indicated that the main characters were a married couple, a rival woman and her husband. So, it may have been destroyed, it may have been stolen, it might have been lost, it might be in the archives at Emory or Smith or Indiana, it might turn up (for a very high price) on the Internet. But unless it is found (and/or it exists) you can't read it. Besides Double Exposure and the last two maroon backed journals, there are other significant works by Plath that are either allegedly lost or allegedly never existed. What I would like to offer here is some thing I have come across while researching that might be significant with regard to the purported unfinished or "non-existent" novel Falcon Yard. Since I am not a scholar and am not planning to write a book, I thought I would put this out there and perhaps some enterprising soul will continue the trail. And maybe give me a little credit, if this is at all useful! In her biography of Plath, Bitter Fame, Anne Stevenson writes about Plath's burning letters, works in progress, etc., at Court Green, after the reality sunk in that Hughes was unfaithful to her with Assia Wevill. In the note on page 251, Stevenson writes: "It has been suggested that on this occasion Sylvia also burned an entire novel written earlier that year, entitled (sic) Falcon Yard, and based on her love for Ted, which she had intended for him as a birthday present. There is absolutely no documentary evidence that such a novel existed. Ted Hughes knew pretty well what she had been writing and said that he knew nothing about such a work at the time. The only mention Sylvia herself made of Falcon Yard was in her journal of 1957-58, when she was planning to write a novel of Cambridge student life. All she kept was the story Stone Boy with Dolphin, first published in Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams in 1977, but written in 1957. Sylvia herself makes no mention of the novel either in her letters of 1961-62 or in her poem "Burning the Letters", which, written in August after her mother's departure, refers to the bonfire. A novel of their love and courtship would have been an unlikely birthday present for Ted in any case, since he rarely read her prose; it was her poetry that interested him. Furthermore, there is no trace of a novel of that name in her papers, though it was Sylvia’s method to draft new work on the reverse side of other drafts." I wonder if Stevenson has confused or conflated Falcon Yard with Double Exposure? I found no mention of Double Exposure (or Double Take ) in Bitter Fame. In any case, the biography was published in 1989, and at that time Ted Hughes was still alive and his archive had not yet been sold to Emory University. On November 4, 2003, I was in Atlanta on business and wanted to do some research in the Hughes' archives at Emory. In a file folder in one of the many, many boxes of material available for research, I found three sheets of paper. The folder is marked Falcon Yard. On the first sheet of Smith College memorandum paper are three columns of names in Plath's own hand. At the top left corner Plath has written "Sadie Peregrine" the name of the heroine of the novel (readers of her journals will be familiar with the name and Plath's excitement at having invented it). The far left column is headed Falcon Yard and there is a list of what are termed "real people": Richard Sassoon, Mallory Wober, John Lithgoe, etc. Some of the names have asterisks next to them. The second column is headed "names of characters" with names Plath had made up and was considering for the novel. The third column is a continuation of the second It seems like Plath was working out pseudonyms for the "real people" she was using as characters in her novel. There is a penciled note at the bottom, which reads [original: subscript (?) 2.5 Bardo Thodol, drafts]. Since the Plath page is not dated, this means either Hughes used the Falcon Yard sheet to draft a page of Bardo Thodol, or Plath used a draft sheet of Bardo Thodol to draft Falcon Yard. So, the Falcon Yard notes might have been written after the couple had left the UK, and were living in Massachusetts, or just after their return to London. Without a date on the Plath draft it is difficult to be certain, although some research into the "real" names on the list might help shed some light on the date (several of the names are Cambridge friends and acquaintances; others I do not recognize and could be people she knew in the US). Hughes began the Bardo Thodol after meeting composer Chou Wen-Chung in September 1959 at Yaddo. He subsequently was writing and re-writing Bardo Thodol in early 1960. The second sheet in the Falcon Yard folder is typed and not on "Smith College Memorandum" paper. It is headed: "FALCON YARD: Character Notebook." It lists several character names and annotates each one with a succinct character description. Under the name "Leonard" (Plath used this name several times for characters based on Ted Hughes as it refers to his astrological sign, Leo) is this information: "Pan. How to lead pan (sic) into a world of toast and nappies?" I don't know if Plath found this humorous or not, but I do. It ’s an interesting, amusing comment on the marriage and what each of them wanted and needed from it. Another character is listed as 'Maurice' and from the description and the comment 'Maurice' appears to be a very loosely disguised Richard Sassoon ("dark, sickly, lover-type.") What I found interesting is that Plath writes suicide under his character description and philosophy kills him. In light of the fact that no one seems to have been able to track Sassoon down in the intervening years to interview him about Plath, could it be that he committed suicide at some point himself? The final lines of the second sheet indicate the theme of the novel Falcon Yard: "Love, bird of prey. Victors and victims. A fable of faithfulness. Risen out of depravity and suffering." This page was also found on a draft from Hughes' Bardo Thodol. The third sheet is an extraordinary piece of writing and insight into Plath's mind, in my opinion. At the top left is typed the word PEREGRINE (linking it to Falcon Yard) and below it "On God". Plath then writes/types a full page, philosophizing and agonizing about god, love, renewal, life, death, sin, human fallibility, idol-making, goddesses. Since "Sadie Peregrine" is Plath's "doppelganger" in the novel, her philosophizing here is not simply "book writing", it is her own thoughts, feelings and fears. She writes: "Because, when you leave me, or I leave you, I do not know where you go, you go everywhere, to every house and every woman." Which is as an evocative and vulnerable description of emotional and sexual jealousy as I have ever read. Based on what I have read about Plath's life, this line suggests that she is writing this while living in Massachusetts, either in Northampton or Boston. For whatever reason, her sexual jealousy does not seem to have been so marked when the couple were living in Cambridge. Later on the same page Plath writes: "To feel is to live. To feel is also death. What country beyond feeling am I trying and dying to get to? The old antique green Eden where there is no sin." Some of the Hughes' archives at Emory may still be being catalogued, so more information about Falcon Yard may yet turn up in Atlanta. What is certain is that Plath was writing a novel about "love" and "faithfulness" that she wanted to call (at the time) Falcon Yard, sometime between 1956 and 1960. I would very much like to hear what other people think about the Falcon Yard notes, pro or con, or if anyone else has any other information on the elusive Falcon Yard novel. Feel free to email me personally or post on the Forum. Thanks. Kim
I've been killing for ages to read Plath's study in opposites. Her thesis on the Doppelganger in Joyce etc. Does anyone know whether it's ever been published or where I can obtain a copy even to look at would be interesting. Rehan Qayoon
I am doing a paper on Sylvia Plath in which I have to tie her works into a thesis. I am having a little trouble coming up with an arguable thesis about her life and works. While researching her, I have found pieces about her being into the occult, could anyone expand on that subject for me? I think I want to focus my thesis on her involvement with the occult. Thanks so much! Feel free to email me your thoughts. Karen U.
Does anyone know when the UK DVD of Sylvia is going to be released? I have searched high and low but no-one seems to know. I still haven't seen the film, as no cinema in my area was showing it, and am really keen to see it. If anyone knows of the UK release date I would be grateful. Marie
I just read the Assia Wevill article for myself two nights ago, and for the past 48 hours I have had David Wevill on the brain. I remember reading somewhere that Ted had commented to Sylvia after leaving her that he had been surprised that she hadn’t committed suicide, as David Wevill had attempted to take his life after Assia left. It has been a long while since I read this, and can’t remember the source - for all I know the account was exaggerated or fabricated to suit the writer’s purposes. At any rate, I was surprised to find out that Mr. Wevill is still alive (I’d assumed that he’d already passed on, based on my prior readings) and teaching in the States, nonetheless. I also can’t help thinking about the horrible loss he must have suffered – this article mentioned that he had given Ted and Assia’s daughter Shura his “name,” since Ted refused to marry Assia. It seems Assia held on to David for security for quite a long while after Sylvia’s death while Ted remained in limbo, and for whatever reason David allowed himself to be used in this way. He seems an intelligent man, so I can’t imagine he was duped into sticking around, if it was known by most of their acquaintances that Assia had already grown tired of him. The article also said that David adored Shura. I think it’s probably safe to say that he adored Assia too, long after she had betrayed him. How very sad for him to have lost both of them. In the preface to one of his more recent books of poetry, he makes reference to the “ghosts of the past” – what horrible ghosts those who lived through the nightmare must still have at their backs. Jennifer K.C.
Yes, I also would love to know if anyone knows of the novel Double Exposure being sent to any universities and if there are any copies available. I had heard from another forum member that the novel was classified as missing, much like the "lost" journals were. If anyone knows anything about this book could you please share your information? I am certain there are quite a few individuals who would love to get the Plath perspective on the betrayal she experienced and her take on things, if this is even possible. Therresa Kennedy
I don't have an exact reference on hand, but Double Exposure was an unpublished, fragment (of about 120 pages) novel that disappeared from Court Green when Hughes had left it lying around. Hughes made claim that visitors often just walked off with anything that had Plath's signature on it, citing the incident that her fountain pen had been stolen. There is some speculation as to the inclusion of the novel in the trunk present at the Emory Archive in Atlanta, GA, USA, not to be opened for several years, but as for the moment, all we know was that the novel revolved around the dissolution of a central marriage and an antagonisin couple (based on real life characters, W.S. and Dido Merwin). I can't remember how big of a part a fictionalized Assia Wevill may have played, but we know that for a time Dido Merwin was seen by Plath as more of an active, or key, dementor in the Plath-Hughes breakdown. Sebastian
I am a very new fan of Plath's (I just discovered her poetry in January of this year.) I know that many on this list have already commented on Tennent's book "Sylvia and Ted" years back, but please bear with me as I temporarily resurrect the subject. While I personally did not care at all for the book, I did have one curiosity. Tennent claimed to have had a relationship with Ted -- implied as an affair. Does anyone know the history or truth of this? Also, I was wondering... if she was indeed on intimate terms with Hughes, how much of her writing was conjecture (Assia's and Sylvia's showdown, Ted's afternoon "romp" with Kate Hands, for example), and how much was insight from a former friend/lover who might have had firsthand information from the source that the rest of the world might not have been privy to? Or... is this a case of a spurned lover gainfully capitalizing on her experience now that the subject of her writing is deceased? (I, for one, felt that her representation of Hughes was far less flattering or forgiving and much more one-dimensional than her treatment of either Sylvia or Assia, which I thought was interesting considering her claims to have been intimate with Ted.) Just wondering... Jennifer
Just to throw my $.02 in there. I tend to agree with Stephanie B. on the Assia/Ted/Sylvia debate. I will, in a rare moment of transparency, admit that my own life bears many similarities to Sylvia's, including a history of depression and mental illness. But I have learned that seeing myself as a victim doesn't do anyone any good, least of all, me. The fact is, decent people in relationships with each other have moments of supreme nastiness -- and on a regular basis. Where two passionate, artistic people are concerned, the nastiness has a tendency to escalate, as do the other emotions represented - euphoria, erotic passion, etc. Throw into the mix a husband with passive/aggresive tendencies and a wife with borderline personality, and you have in a word, a volitaile marriage. Both Ted and Sylvia consciously recorded, for their posterity, the voices by which they wished to be remembered. Both are telling, but both are also carefully guarded -- and the truth is obscured in there somewhere. In a relationship flagged by emotional (and, it has been documented, probably physical on some occassions) abuse, I would say Sylvia and Ted were already doggedly marching toward disaster long before Assia entered the picture. All three were victims of each other's abuse, and all three were horrible perpetrators of their own abuse. On Assia's account, I feel sorry for her. Not because I see her as the "victim", but because I see her in the same place with Ted and Sylvia, who all saw themselves as powerless in their own situations when, with some effort, their sad states could have been changed. Whatever her reasons, there was no security or consolation for her in her relationship with Ted, from the very beginning. She had no rights or claims on him, and (while she was no dimwit herself,) was Sylvia's inferior intellectually and artistically. She knew this full well, and knew that once Ted tired of her looks he would see this plainly. At the time of her suicide, most accounts I've read say that she was aging, had gained weight, and was much less attractive than her former glory. Regardless of Assia's intellect, I get the impression that she had learned to survive -- and had gone on surviving -- off her ability to catch a man's eye. Sadly, this is the legacy that is left of her: "the other (more attractive, and therefore more culpable) woman." Yes, her manipulations are reprehensible, but really -- what a sad existence it must have been for her. It's easy for Sylvia admirers to villianize her for obvious reasons -- and even easier for Sylvia-supporter-feminists to criticize her: after all, what is more detestable to an empowered woman than one who climbs the ladder of life monopolizing on her sexuality and femininity? I have met few women in my lifetime who trust or even like women-in-general (which is a sad topic I will save for another time) because every other woman is competition to them -- professional, intellectual, or sexual competition; Assia was a "typical" woman who went about validating herself in the best way she knew how -- by stealing another woman's thunder. Not that this makes any of it right. I'm just saying that all three of them had their own horrible circumstances, and all three went about doing what most of us do: they made an even bigger mess of them. Sylvia chose to take her own life; neither Assia nor Ted made her do it. Assia chose to take her own (and Shura's) life; neither Sylvia nor Ted made her do it. Both women had their own insurmountable grief and guilt to deal with, and sadly, neither felt they could see the other side from where they stood. Jennifer
By the way, this October a new edition of Ariel is going to be released (I believe the planned release date is October 26) in the United States (and the UK?)--including all the poems, and in the order in which Plath had arranged them, in her original manuscript. Very exciting! Terry
I believe that "Esther Greenwood" was a combination of family names, especially since Plath generally drew on her real life name associations to create . However, I just recently discovered that "Esther Greenwood" is the name of a character in a Charlotte Gilman Perkins short story, whose title unfortunately escapes me at the moment. I assume that this is just an enormous coincidence but it certainly gave me a jolt to see it on the page! Terry
Hello, everyone! I have been admiring this site since 1998, when Hughes shocked most people with Birthday Letters; (he didn't shock me, though, as I could see it coming after all those Plath-related poems in various magazines.) Anyhow: I will get to the point. I'm in the middle of writing a book about the whole of Plath's written corpus for PhD students, looking at possible thesis questions and giving directions. I have read nearly everything that Plath wrote in her lifetime; the only thing that remains for me to read is her second, unpublished novel, Double Exposure. Am I right in thinking that Smith College have a copy of it? Is it a completed draft; and are the public (or authors) welcome to read it? Thanks ever so much; I have delighted in returning to this forum again and again. Ana Psarisch
Peter, if I'm not mistaken, the family's name was in the German form 'Grunewald', which translates as Greenwood. Jim Long
One more thought on the Wevill issue: Good, decent, well intentioned married and/or attached people fall in love with others and are unfaithful all the time, and undoubtedly they agonize over the suffering it almost unvariably brings to their families and spouses. This is a very real phenomenon, and one worth objectivity, empathy, and understanding. But that consideration hinges, I think, on the event in question being an isolated incident. I do not think it applies to people like Wevill who have three extramarital affairs in a row, and a history of sexually unscrupulous behavior. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, human sympathy has its limits. Lisa A. Flowers
I am researching Plath's poem "Mad Girl's Love Song" and, though very intriguing, unfortunately seems to be one of her more obscure works from when she was quite young(it was written in 1951 at age 18). She mentions in her journals that it was written about Mike, also known as Myron Lotz, a yale premed student. This is all I have been able to find. Is there anyone who has any further information or research on this particular poem? Hilary
I believe that Plath picked the surname "Greenwood" for her maternal grandmother, whose, it was either last name or maiden name, was Greenwood. It's kind of touching, bestowing the spirit of stoic Grammy upon Esther. Sebastian
Greenwood is also a family name on Aurelia Schober Plath's side of the family. I believe Mrs. Plath's mother's maiden name was Aurelia Frances Greenwood. Mr. Larschan would know, so I hope he'll correct this if I've gotten it wrong. Peter K Steinberg
Dear Lisa, Thank you for the link to that really interesting article on Assia Wevill. As you wrote it did paint a rather unflattering picture of her. It is interesting to note that those closest to her were willing to describe her in her youth as "manipulative" and even that as a teen that she was willing to "stalk" a young man if only to get something from him that she wanted. From all the various quotes in the article my first impression of Assia is unfortunately confirmed. However, this new article which I had not read previously leaves me feeling now rather sad. That she became obsessed with Sylvia to such an extent that she would morbidly collect her "things" various personal items, underwear? even when to do so, would "depress" her as TH is quoted as saying is rather pathetic. His bewilderment at how she was willing to to this, and other things (including reading the "lost" journals of Sylvia's where she must have been horrified and delighted at the pure hatred directed at her) basically engaging in such a sick and unhealthy covetesnous, is aptly communicated in Hughes's later poem "The Error", when he wonders why she was so willing to stand by the grave and gawk, wide eyed and seemingly elated. When we do this, isn't it really to wonder and contemplate our own power over those weaker than we are? To relish the high that results from manipulation and battles won and lost? That she spoke of Brenda Hedden as her "real enemy" also confirms my suspicion that she had a conflicted and perhaps even competitive relationship with her mother, being as she was the "apple" of her father's eye. Women, in her perception were clearly the enemy, this is certain. I would like one day to know why. I always knew in my heart that "marriage" and "respectability" was what she was after from Hughes after Sylvia's death. So it is with the typical predictable mistress. Her pattern of taking attached men from other women is well known. This impulse, to me, seemed to control her more than the notion that TH was "the love of her life", hadn't she had many? Wouldn't that have been the total package, marriage? the total victory? Hughes was reluctant to marry for good reason. Her history and patterns which he was well aware of and unwilling to invite or embrace completely into his world explains his reluctance. It is well known that she was pregnant at the time of Plath's suicide, then later aborted the baby, why? Because the fetus had served its purpose and was no longer useful. I have always thought that Shura was another desperate attempt to get TH to finally marry her and give her the trophy she so hungered for, the silent and unseen trophy of victory, or in other words the coveted wedding band, the final declaration of her win over Sylvia. And what of the name of the child, even if it was only a nickname? Am I the only person to notice that the first and last letters in the name Shura are also the first and last letters in the name Sylvia? What is the significance here, it can't be simply coincidental. I have wondered about this often. To me it seems she wanted to consume Sylvia in every way, even her name. Her wrath and vengefullness were well known by those who knew her, even TH is reported to have commented on it. It seems to me that the vast majority of her motives were controlled by an overriding covetousness that poisoned and controlled her entire existence. Is not this a particle and peek into the illumination of what evil is? Certainly she was conflicted, probably emotionally disturbed, definitely narcississtic and vain to an extreme, but she also enjoyed the pain she inflicted on others. She got off on the control. Those who do not see past this behavior are simply the kind of individuals who have not experienced enough of the real world in all its sorrow and horror to recognise evil in its various forms and are as a result sadly naive. I think in the end, she knew she could never win, not in the manner she wanted, smugly gloating over a rotting corpse. She knew Ted did not trust her, she would never be the poets wife, she would never outdo Sylvia in terms of either talent or character and her despicable traits were finally too much for her to contemplate or live with. Sure, she commited suicide and murdered their daughter Shura to punish Ted for not marrying her and for falling out of love with her but she also I believe was tired of life. She was tired of the life she had created for herself, because she more than anyone else had created that life. She knew herself better than anyone and her self-loathing finally got the better of her. She had more than a few years to contemplate what she had done, the games,the deceptions, example? (pretending she was a man on the phone when she was trying to reach Ted) the pregnancy used solely to incite a probable response, the chaos, the pain in so many different lives, and as a result she grew to hate who she was, it really is that simple. Do I sound harsh? Sure, but the hues of reality are always painfully harsh for those who have the strength to see them. Clearly it is sad to many that this woman was the willful catalyst for such heartache and pain and chose to destroy her own life and the life of a small child, a child more innocent than any angel. The more I learn, the more I read, the sadder I feel that women and men like Assia prey on the happiness of others, for it is an elusive jewel, one that is often hunted in order that it may be destroyed. Therresa Kennedy
Dear Lisa, Your last posting was interesting, apparently I have not read the article you mention, could you please let me know the name and date of the publication, I would be very eager to read this story. I also have wondered about Assia's sister Cecelia and what her perception of Assia was. Where did you find this and how can I get a copy? Therresa Kennedy
Peter, I agree this is an interesting topic. However, I disagree that Plath, Hughes and Wevill are all to “blame” for the affair or at least in equal portions. I've tried to keep an open mind about the affair and the end of the Plath-Hughes marriage. As more information is coming to light, particularly about Wevill, it's becoming increasingly difficult. To put it bluntly, and perhaps unfairly, Assia was an adulteress, thief (Plath's manuscripts), murderess and in general, appears to have been quite slithery. The sneak-away trip that Assia and Ted took to Spain in Sept. 1962 is one of the new pieces of information. If the knife was already inserted in Sylvia, this certainly gave it an ugly, painful twist. Regarding the Spain trip.when and how did Sylvia find out? Does anyone know? I personally am not aware of any indication that she knew about it until the last few weeks of her life (per Peter's “favorite” sources –Jillian Becker and Trevor Thomas.) If Sylvia learned of this deception while in the depths of a depression, and the horrible winter weather, could it, and not the supposed news of Assia's abortion, have played a part in putting her over the edge? I'm hoping Eilat Negev's new book will offer some additional revelations. Perhaps, too, Negev's book will soften the image I have Assia. I'm willing to entertain the thought that all is not as it seems.And a final disagreement, I think the film, Sylvia, is a passing amusement and will have minimal effect on our knowledge of Plath, as counterbalanced by the legacy she's left us. Nancy Howell
I may start a big debate by saying this, but I don't blame Wevill (or Hughes for that matter) for the marriage's breakup. Too many Plathians are intent on pinning the blame on either Hughes or Wevill...and for what? The marriage was going to end with or without Wevill's appearance. And Plath? Plath had a previous suicide attempt and was obviously mentally ill. Her suicide--though made worse by Hughes's infidelity--occured for a number of reasons; infidelity being one of them. Maybe it's just me, but I find the "Who's to blame game" tiresome and childish. Infidelity happens everyday. The fact that Plath is a major cult figure is the only reason so many of us are hypersensitive and defending of Plath. Stephanie B.
I have always presumed that Plath combined the first name of Ted's favourite cousin (Victoria Farrar) with the first name of one of his closest friends, Lucas Myers. I have also thought that she was influenced in her choice of the surname Greenwood for her heroine in the Bell Jar by the fact that it is the most common local surname in Hughes's home area, the Calder Valley. Elaine Connell
Does anyone know what was the inspiration for Sylvia's pseudonym Victoria Lucas when she wrote the Bell Jar? I have been trying to find something on this, and I have been unsuccessful. Any direction would be appreciated. Crystal
By the way, thank you, Therresa, for your kind comments about my post. I, too, am looking forward to the publication of the Wevill biography; I think it's safe to say the book going to be a "must have" for most of the people on this forum, regardless of their stance on the issues it deals with. A small correction: the link I sent previously is dated, and, while it touches on some of the research that must have precipitated Ms. Negev's upcoming biography , it is actually more of a mini case history of Assia herself. If I'm directing people to an article that is already well known, my sheepish apologies. In any case, though, it is an interesting read, with substantial commentary by Assia's sister thrown in. One might note, incidentally, that a great deal of what Wevill's sister says seems to confirm a not altogether positive impression of her sibling. Lisa A. Flowers
While I agree that Ted and Sylvia's relationship was a complex one (whose marriage is not?) I disagree that Sylvia was somehow complicit in Ted's philandering. If a person chooses to flout the marriage vows, knowing of the heartache that will follow, that person should at least accept full responsibility for their actions. Otherwise, we're also going to have to insist that little Nicholas and Frieda shared the blame for their father's desertion of them, for his frequent trips up to London to dally with Assia, while Sylvia and children were conveniently tucked away on the farm. Interestingly, Ted Hughes seems to have accepted responsibility for his affair with Assia, and didn't insist that Sylvia was equally culpable. If anyone has read of Ted publicly blaming his former wife for his philandering, I would be very interested to read it. Trish
Not enough is really known about Assia's life, at present, so my question is how can one not like her for the "person she was" unless you actually knew her or know more about her life then the rest of us?. Unfortunately for Assia she has no following as Plath or Hughes do. She was never recognized during her lifetime or afterwards for her poetic undertakings (original poetry or translations) and so it is easy to see her as a one dimensional character in the drama of Plath and Hughes and I suppose it makes it easier for people to place all the blame on her. I also feel that it is ridiculous to "compare" Plath and Wevill's suicides or to suggest that Wevill's suicide was a way of "one-upping" Plath. What a terrible tragedy it was and still is for this woman to have obviously felt so disturbed and depressed that the only way out for her was to kill herself and to take her child along with her. Calling her "evil" is quite devoid of any empathy or understanding for what her life must have been like post-Sylvia Plath (or what had happened during her life pre-Hughes that influenced her later choices and actions). As someone else has already mentioned, there is a evidence that the marriage was already in trouble and Hughes' affair was just the catalyst that finally broke them apart (I believe they eventually would have split affair or no affair). Plath often suspected him of cheating throughout their marriage and yet, there is no real proof to suggest that he had been unfaithful before Wevill. It is interesting to me how some people are of the opinion that Hughes should have remained with Plath because she was depressed. Had he done that, he would have been a prisoner in his own marriage. However, there are more honest ways to leave a marriage or relationship then infidelity. To Shannon, why would it bother you that Hughes lived to be "an old man"?. He provided the literary world with many wonderful pieces of work, allowed the public to understand him, at least a little bit better, by giving Emory University his archives and raised two children who obviously feel nothing for him but love and respect (the fact that he was a good and involved father is indisputable). The situation surrounding the demise of Plath and Hughes' marriage is by far too complicated to make any kind of snap judgements regarding who was to blame and so on. The question of what really made Plath commit suicide is also an unanswerable one. The only one who really knows (if, indeed, she was lucid enough to really know what she was doing) was Plath and obviously, she can't tell us. Stephanie
By the way, an interesting article on Assia and the new biography can be found here: Lisa A. Flowers
Dear Eilat, You hereby have my official apology for being naive. Due to your interntet postings, I had also originally thought you were a woman, but then I was emailed by an obviously misinformed individual who claimed to have known Sylvia Plath's mother who stated with some conviction that you were indeed a man, that he had been told so by the writer Ronald Hayman, and due also to an apparent typo in the memoir by Jillian Becker in her book Giving Up, Page 62, where you are referred to as a "him" I felt a deception had taken place as it does all the time via email communications etc. This is why internet communications can be so tricky, it is hard to know whom to trust, is information accurate, these are difficult dynamics we must all consider. I am glad to know that the attractive red head in the photo on the internet is actually you, and I on my end will be a little less willing to believe questionable sources. Let this be a lesson for us all to be honest with one another and attempt to communicate truthfully, at least as much as we are able .Also, much good fortune to you Eilat, as you wrap up the last chapters of the manuscript. While I may not agree with your take on Assia Wevill and what I anticipate will be a sympathetic portrayal of her, I am delighted and grateful that you have devoted such a long amount of time to researching her life history and providing a different perspective on her story. Thank you and good luck to you .Therresa Maria Kennedy
My apologies to Therressa for having to pull the carpet underneath her elaborate theory: I'm not, never have been, and do not plan to be a man, and I perfectly enjoy my femininity. I've no idea what is the source of the error: why is it that people assume that an author is a "he", unless proven otherwise? I wish people were not hasty to interpret situations only according to their own life experience, and form their opinions without knowing the full facts. Eilat Negev
I am a little curious to learn more about Assia. However, at this time I have to say I strongly dislike the person that she was. I can relate a lot to how Sylvia felt on certain things in her life. Ted to me was a pig of a man- he was unfaithful to Sylvia long before Assia came along. Assia however- refused to let things be and "allow" him to go back to his family. She was calling the house.. if the story is true she was well aware that Sylvia invited her into their home, she knew Sylvia was feeling uncomfortable with the flirting between Assia and Ted- yet she still persisted. She knew this was a man with a beautiful young wife and 2 small children. I believe the marriage would have broken up eventually anyhow due to Ted's affairs. Assia just made the situation worse...and I think she would have done that to any man she set her eyes upon that she decided that she wanted. The story of Sylvia Plath's life was so interesting to me. In class we did not get into what ever happenned to Assia- I figured that out by doing further research online. I don't agree with suicide at all- but I am sorry to find out that Ted lived to be an old man. Maybe I haven't read enough yet- but the way he left his family- and back in those times I thought that was a HUGE no no. He knew Sylvia was already a very depressed person from the start. He should've cared more about his wife and family and been more cautious in how he handled things with Sylvia. Shannon
The discussion over Assia Wevill's role in Sylvia Plath's suicide is a very interesting one. If it hasn't been done so already, I'd like to point out a few things. First of all, Ms. Kennedy mistakes Eilat Negev's gender at least a dozen times. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Negev at the Sylvia Plath Symposium at Indiana University in October 2002. The first night she, Yehuda Koren, Kate Moses, Luisa Webb and I sat around until late in the evening talking. The presenation she gave a couple of days later, with Yehuda Koren, painted a very clear, yet controvesial image of the woman who is the subject of this biography. Ms. Kennedy, what led you to such a strong determination to make Eilat Negev male? You said, "I also want to clarify that while I don't think as a man Mister Negev could really and completely understand the various multi-faceted and hidden motivations of women in totality or with any degree of authority." Does your opinion or stance change in light of Ms. Negev's gender? The charge that Assia Wevill "destroyed" the marriage is a bit strong. There is much evidence that the marriage was troubled before Assia and David Wevill visited the Hugheses in North Tawton in May 1962. The claim that it was a decisive factor in the death of Sylvia Plath is also a bit much. The film Sylvia must have lead to this misconception. In the film, "Sylvia" commits suicide the same night that "Hughes" tells her that "Assia" is pregnant. This is all too convenient; it wraps the film too nicely. With all the other flaws in the film taken into consideration, this one is perhaps the most damaging to impressionable fans. It takes more than one person to commit adultery. Plath, Hughes and the Wevill's are all "to blame" if blame must be made. Jillian Becker's mini-memoir, written some thirty-odd years after the fact, should be questioned. Trevor Thomas claimed to have a photographic memory, but his memoir is severely flawed. He had very little reason to think highly of Plath and/or Hughes; this was very clear in Last Encounters. Is it very difficult to understand why Hughes used the oven in question to cook: they had to eat, right? The decision for Ted to move into the late of his late wife's is a practical decision: most of all because one year's rent had been paid for the flat. I am not a supporter of many things, adultery being one of them, though it is very clear that I've been defending, in some way, the role that Assia Wevill played in the lives of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. I do understand that opinions will almost invariably always differ, especially in a worldwide forum such as this; they've helped this forum survive. Sylvia Plath's life, now very much in Hollywood's haze, mustn't suffer the lifeless, shallow hilarity of coupling and tripling that fuels the raunchy reality-TV and media frenzy and the magazine gossip columns: "Once one has been seized up Without a part left over, Not a toe, not a finger, and used, Used utterly, in the sun's conflagrations, the stains That lengthen from ancient cathedrals What is the remedy?" Peter K. Steinberg
Dear Lisa Flowers, Now that's what I'm talking about! I want to applaud your incredibly perceptive remarks on your take of Assia Wevill! I agree totally and whole heartedly with what you have said. Your comments were not only very wise but also very fair. Thank you for your excellent perspective and insights! Therresa Maria Kennedy
With all due respect, if someone posts something on this Forum that is unfounded, narrow minded and judgmental, other posters have the right to call him or her on it. I'm glad that Eilat Negev was able to make a correction in this instance and I, too, look forward to reading the book. Frankly, I can accept someone calling Hitler or Hussein evil; I don't think the word applies to ordinary human beings who live imperfect lives. It's been my experience that when people use such terms as 'evil' to describe another person, or who paint certain issues in black and white, without any modulation, they are often reacting to personal experience - projecting, if you will - rather than addressing the actual situation. Sylvia Plath took her own life. There may have been many contributing factors, but in the end, she alone is responsible for her actions. She was a great poet and an extraordinary person. She, Ted Hughes and Assia Wevill deserve to be known for much more than their love triangle. As there have been many books written about Plath and Hughes, I hope the book on Assia will help a wider sudience come to know her and her own talents. A little more open minded compassion and empathy for the lives of the people we are discussing, and a little less black and white judgement will help to keep this Forum relevant and enlightening for all who visit here. Kim
Yes, attempting to pigeonhole the complexity of human love and sexuality into tawdry and easily accessible stereotypes is insouciant, even if it were possible, and people do the things they do for infinitely complex reasons....indeed, often for love alone. The reality, of course, is that romantic love...love of any kind, actually...is, finally, not a choice. We cannot help who we fall in love with. Falling in love, therefore, may be a dire inconvenience or even a paradoxically unwelcome "duty"...ie, once it is there, one is unwittingly and obscurely "responsible" for it, whether they want to be or not. As an independent entity, romantic love is indeed like a disease, and destroys where it can and what it will, indiscriminately and without regard to families and marriages. Remaining true to one person is often difficult, especially taking the inevitability of change into play. Infidelity may be the fate of one person asserting itself, often at the "expense" of the fate of another, as in the proverbial tragedy of star crossed lovers. Rarely do human beings bear up stoically under the ideal of eternal love and fidelity...etc...yes, all these things are true. It is perhaps also true that Assia Wevill came from difficult beginnings and that she, like Sylvia Plath, was a woman "vulnerable and in need of protection." That said, I find myself frankly able to feel very little sympathy for her. Since Assia, Ted, and Sylvia are dead, we have nothing but the testimony of witnesses (mostly as reported by biographers) and memoirs to go on. Taking that into consideration, and acknowledging the limitations of that (or of any event thus lost to history) here are some of the facts: In a show of really incredible contempt and disrespect, not just for the dead (Sylvia) but the living (Sylvia's children and Aurelia) Ted and Assia move into 23 Fitzroy Road after Sylvia's suicide. In other words, we have Ted’s mistress...herself an enormous, if not pivotal, factor in Plath's decision to take her own life...sleeping, living, eating, and having sexual relations with Ted in the very place where Sylvia drew her last breath. That, alone, is reason enough to treat her intentions with suspicion, as far as I’m concerned. Witnesses have Ted cooking in "the" kitchen as Assia languishes upstairs; Trevor Thomas reports a get together....ostensibly to "cheer Ted up"....complete with enough music and lively chatter to be heard through the ceiling. One cannot ignore Assia's numerous marriages, nor can one ignore that the fact that David Wevill was not the first man she left....although she would later return to him, even as she continued to carry on with Ted. All these things speak of a pattern, which in itself, perhaps, negates the theory that Assia' s affair with Ted was just a random, tragic, and unprecedented event. A. Alvarez has left testimony....reliable, I think....as to Assia's "predatory" quality. That Assia was also charming, caring, generous, and a good friend to many is no doubt equally true, and I have no doubt that those who have spoken warmly of her had good reason to....flaws are, after all, just one part of a human personality. But it seems to me that Wevill was a woman who, in matters of love and sex, was used to getting what she wanted. She used her looks....as long as they lasted, anyway.... as a weapon, much in the same way that Plath used her poetry....although history knows who ultimately came out more powerful, as Hughes himself admits as much in his poem "The Other". the truth is that Assia could not compete with Sylvia Plath, in artistic acheivement or in Ted's heart of hearts. Undoubtedly it sounds horribly shallow and ignorant to say, but I do think that, in a sense, Wevill's death was an attempt at a kind of pathetic "one-upmanship". There was, after all was said and done, only one other thing Assia could take with her: her child by Hughes. In contemplating this despicable act, one cannot help recalling the precision and care....however illogically thought out....with which Sylvia guarded her own children from harm on the night of her death: Assia's actions, of course, are the polar opposite. Not to incite controversy or offend anyone who might think otherwise... but, almost more than desperation, Wevill's actions smack of a kind of Norma Desmond/Blanche DuBoisian refusal to come to terms with time, grace, and her own limitations. It's pretty far, in any case, from Robin Morgan's and Paul Alexander's insinuation that Wevill killed herself...and her daughter...."to save her {Shura} from a life with Hughes." Lisa A. Flowers
I just want to clarify a few things, first of all I am pleased to know that mister Eilat Negev regularly visits the Sylvia Plath Forum on the internet. Yes, he's a man, don't ask how I know, I was told by another gentleman I have briefly corresponded with who shall remain nameless. Secondly, I am always more than willing to stir up a little controversy, it gives me pleasure to do so and I am sure lovely Assia would approve, and thirdly, I never meant to imply that the man Eilat Negev, the Israeli writer who is currently doing a biography on Assia Wevill ever implied to me that he was doing a negative portrayal of her. A sympathetic portrayal of her is always what I expected of him, given the tone of the small number of emails we have exchanged. The comments I made about Assia were my own. I also want to clarify that while I don't think as a man Mister Negev could really and completely understand the various multi-faceted and hidden motivations of women in totality or with any degree of authority, I do agree he is a very talented writer and one that I respect in that regard. I am not a published writer, though my father is, in history and poetry here in town, but I am finishing two degrees as a junior at PSU. One in criminal justice, the other in English literature, I am also 38 years old and have experienced a thing or two in my time. In the wonderful and short memoir by Jillian Becker entitled Giving Up about the last days of Sylvia Plath, she details an interview conducted by none other than Eilat Negev of Ted Hughes shortly before his death, detailing how poor Assia was adversely affected by her very real fear of the holocaust of WW2. Eilat Negev is quoted as saying, "for Assia Wevill, the threat of the holocaust was a real and experienced terror" Jillian Becker responds by writing, "Nonsense" and I agree! She writes, "German Jews who were old enough to know what was going on in the 1930s had reason to fear the Nazis...Assia had been a child then and had been borne off to safety in Canada." She goes on to write, "Still, out of this imagined terror that by implication enriched the interest and pathos of Assia's emotional Bildung, Negev constructs, with the poet's help, a link between her and Hughes of a world-historical kind, making what was a sordid love affair and cruel betrayal into an event worthy of Fate's attention.." To me this sounds like a defense, a rather pathetic attempt on the part of Eilat Negev to romanticise a tawdry and cheap fling, that prolonged into an unfortunate and unhealthy six year relationship, only because of the death of a wife. This then is what I am talking about. This interview was conducted in 1998 and would mark ten years that Mr Negev had been gathering data, momentoes, and other information about Assia Wevill. It is this kind of romanticising of people of the past, Assia Wevill, that is such a sad twisting of facts and reality. This is why biography in general is such a incredibly difficult genre. The authors genereally always have an agenda, something to prove to the reading audience. The reality is that in the numerous biographies I have read Assia is generally portrayed in one manner or another as a compulsive and textbook Malignant Narcissist. She must have had a horribly conflicted relationship with her mother, as she spent many years beginning relationship after relationship, and three marriages, on the foundation of acts of sexual betrayal and infidelity. It is well known that she revelled in her role as Other Woman, that she invited the gossip, the accusations, it was a role she enjoyed playing, as she still needed very much, for whatever reason, to steal Daddy from Mommy. And remember also, she was willing to commit murder, the murder of a small child, while Sylvia was not. Jillian Becker is quite perceptive to point this out as well in her thought provoking and kindly memoir. As I have stated, I was never under the impression that Eilat Negev would do an unflattering portrayal of Assia. I have always suspected that his portrayal of her would be highly sympathetic and as a result, terribly flawed. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, his book will still incite much discussion and controversy and will enrich all the lives of people who find themselves interested in such topics. Also, it is noteworthy that he feels compelled to defend this woman who has had no voice and who has had to take such a bashing on her character the past 30-40 years. The sad reality however is that when it comes to Assia Wevill, she has had it coming. I can only hope that this new biograhpy (that I am counting the days to buy) will be at least accurate in terms of honestly detailing Assia's blatant character flaws and compulsive need to manipulate and destroy the happiness of others. If it is nothing but a sentimental and idolizing defence of her then the author runs the risk of losing credibility. I wish Eilat Negev much luck and good fortune with this book and I wait with bated breath for its publication, it will surely cause a sensation. Therresa Maria Kennedy
In an amazing find at the Argosy Book Store in New York about fifteen years ago, I stumbled on a book called A Child Of The Century, Ben Hecht's autobiography, published in the fifties. I discovered Sylvia's name in her hand (printing) on the bookplate, then found a notecard from her friend Ellie Friedman from Smith, who had given it to Sylvia for Sylvia's birthday and said "I think YOU'RE the child of the century." Anyway, the book is filled with language, syntax, and content that figured in her later poems, and many of those passages are underlined, with exclamation points. I have never heard a connection between Ben Hecht and Sylvia Plath. Does anyone know anything on the subject? Rex WilderPacific Palisades, California , USA Saturday, April 3, 2004
 |
