Ted Hughes never went shopping with Sylvia Plath
July 23, 2024 11:28 AM Subscribe
True knowledge and life cannot, of course, be quantifiable, and Plath did not live by simply numbering her days and ways—intellectual, social, and sexual. No biography, without a narrative, can succeed. Neither Plath nor her biographers have considered her life as just one damn thing after another. But when the numbers drop out of narrative, avoiding the tedium of indexing a life, something is also lost. from From Shopping to Sex: Indexing the Life of Sylvia Plath [LitHub]
CW: suicide, depression, abuse, language is NSFW
CW: suicide, depression, abuse, language is NSFW
This article makes Sylvia Plath’s Elegy for Sylvia Plath pack a whole new wallop.
Thanks for the post.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 11:55 AM on July 23 [2 favorites]
Thanks for the post.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 11:55 AM on July 23 [2 favorites]
The Couriers
'The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf?
It is not mine. Do not accept it.
Acetic acid in a sealed tin?
Do not accept it. It is not genuine.
A ring of gold with the sun in it?
Lies. Lies and a grief.
Frost on a leaf, the immaculate
Cauldron, talking and crackling
All to itself on the top of each
Of nine black Alps.
A disturbance in mirrors,
The sea shattering its grey one ——
Love, love, my season.'
posted by clavdivs at 12:29 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]
And don't call me Shirley.
posted by pracowity at 2:43 PM on July 23 [3 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 2:43 PM on July 23 [3 favorites]
Previously
To which I link because it has a live link to Sylvia Plath reading Ariel. CW: Before listening aloud to that in a shared space, silently read the problematic nsfw fourth stanza to see why.
Also see also: 'Ariel’ by Sylvia Plath describes the terror of a horseback ride and the mental and emotional transformation the rider goes through.
posted by y2karl at 3:34 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
To which I link because it has a live link to Sylvia Plath reading Ariel. CW: Before listening aloud to that in a shared space, silently read the problematic nsfw fourth stanza to see why.
Also see also: 'Ariel’ by Sylvia Plath describes the terror of a horseback ride and the mental and emotional transformation the rider goes through.
posted by y2karl at 3:34 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
My fave podcasters (full disclosure: friends of mine) of Celebrity Book Club did a "hometown" (Boston) episode about Sylvia "Soggy Desire" Plath - a fun listen, if you want a little levity alongside all the suicide/depression/abuse. Also features a rousing game of "Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard" with Steven's dad who was their guest for the live taping.
posted by sleepingwithcats at 5:59 PM on July 23
posted by sleepingwithcats at 5:59 PM on July 23
Thinking of all the ways "the hulking Hughes, a towering figure among his adoring Cambridge chaps" would ruin a shopping trip...
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:13 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:13 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
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posted by HearHere at 11:52 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]