The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath

169 Pages·2008·0.85 MB·English

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TheCambridgeIntroductionto
Sylvia Plath
SylviaPlathiswidelyrecognisedasoneoftheleadingfiguresin
twentieth-centuryAnglo-Americanliteratureandculture.Herworkhas
remainedconstantlyinprintintheUKandUSA(andinnumerous
translatededitions)sincetheappearanceofherfirstcollectionin1960.
Plath’sownwritinghasbeensupplementedoverthedecadesbyawealth
ofcriticalandbiographicalmaterial.TheCambridgeIntroductionto
SylviaPlathoffersanauthoritativeandcomprehensiveguidetoPlath’s
poetry,proseandautobiographicalwritings.Itoffersacriticaloverview
ofkeyreadings,debatesandissuesfromalmostfiftyyearsofPlath
scholarship;drawsattentiontothehistorical,literary,nationaland
gendercontextswhichprovidetheframeworkforherwriting;and
providesinformedandattentivereadingsofherwork.Accessibly
written,thisbookwillbeofgreatvaluetostudentsbeginningtheir
explorationsofthisimportantwriter.
JoGillisLecturerinTwentieth-CenturyLiteratureattheUniversityof
Exeter.

The Cambridge Introduction to
Sylvia Plath
JO GILL
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521867269
© Jo Gill 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-42909-5 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-86726-9 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-68695-2 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Preface page ix
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviationsandtextualnote xii
1 Life 1
Family 1
Marriage 7
England 10
2 Contexts 14
Literarycontexts 15
‘PoetessofAmerica’ 17
Confessionalpoetry 19
Historicalandideologicalcontexts 21
WorldWarII 22
Postwarcultures 24
Domesticityandthesuburbs 26
England 28
3 Early poetry 29
Juveniliaandotherearlypoems 30
Englishinfluences 33
TheColossus 35
Creativityandself-creation 40
CrossingtheWater 43
Transformationandchange 44
Displacement 49
v
vi Contents
4 Ariel and later poetry 51
Ariel 53
Echoes 53
Thebeesequence,‘LadyLazarus’and‘Daddy’ 58
Ariel:TheRestoredEdition 64
WinterTreesandotherlatepoems 66
ThreeWomen 69
5 The Bell Jar and Johnny Panic and the
Bible of Dreams 73
TheBellJar 73
Narrativevoice 78
Thedouble 79
Subjectivity 83
JohnnyPanicandtheBibleofDreams 84
Value 85
Englishstories 90
America 91
6 Letters Home and Journals 93
LettersHome 93
Renderingaccount 97
Leavinghome 100
TheJournalsofSylviaPlath 101
TheJournalsofSylviaPlath(1982):theabridged
edition 101
Masks 104
TheJournalsofSylviaPlath(2000):theunabridged
edition 105
7 Reception 111
Biography 111
Confessional 115
Mythology 117
Feministreadings 119
Psychoanalyticalapproaches 123
Contents vii
Historyandpolitics 125
Newdirections 128
Notes 129
Furtherreading 140
Index 146