Awescape
A really well written biography of Sylvia Plath that aims to be as neutral as possible and uses mostly letters, journals, calendars, and various points of view to establish what happened. It was 900 pages but I read it really fast so it must have been good. The book did a good job giving Sylvia's own voice to explain what may have been happening and not treading into mythologizing her or making too much of apocryphal stories or opinions others have of her like other bios. It focuses on her art, ambition, the effect her perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the sexist pressure at the time had on her as an artist and a person, as well as her romantic life and mental health issues. One aspect of her death and mental health struggles rarely explored is how the barbaric treatment of the time that forced unperfected shock treatment and potential life in an asylum to mentally ill or difficult women was a genuine threat, and so scared Plath she was wiling to do anything to escape it, and that her death was an attempt to control her dignity and life, not necessarily the "sad girl suicide" or the result of her marriage breaking down, although that is for sure a factor.
Plath's most amazing trait was her voice, her earnest desire to create art despite the patriarchal norms of the 50s and 60s she was coming up in, and her dedication to her dreams above all else. She was clearly a very intense and sincere, authentic singular artist with a precise and intelligent voice. This bio made me re-read The Bell Jar and understanding more about her and her history made the book more moving, witty, incredibly funny- it isn't my first re-read but it seems to get better with every year, as do her poems, Ariel, especially since I am now 30, about the age Sylvia Plath wrote the Bell Jar and the age she wrote Ariel, her magnus opus book of peoms. She was really a genius.
A really well written biography of Sylvia Plath that aims to be as neutral as possible and uses mostly letters, journals, calendars, and various points of view to establish what happened. It was 900 pages but I read it really fast so it must have been good. The book did a good job giving Sylvia's own voice to explain what may have been happening and not treading into mythologizing her or making too much of apocryphal stories or opinions others have of her like other bios. It focuses on her art, ambition, the effect her perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the sexist pressure at the time had on her as an artist and a person, as well as her romantic life and mental health issues. One aspect of her death and mental health struggles rarely explored is how the barbaric treatment of the time that forced unperfected shock treatment and potential life in an asylum to mentally ill or difficult women was a genuine threat, and so scared Plath she was wiling to do anything to escape it, and that her death was an attempt to control her dignity and life, not necessarily the "sad girl suicide" or the result of her marriage breaking down, although that is for sure a factor.
Plath's most amazing trait was her voice, her earnest desire to create art despite the patriarchal norms of the 50s and 60s she was coming up in, and her dedication to her dreams above all else. She was clearly a very intense and sincere, authentic singular artist with a precise and intelligent voice. This bio made me re-read The Bell Jar and understanding more about her and her history made the book more moving, witty, incredibly funny- it isn't my first re-read but it seems to get better with every year, as do her poems, Ariel, especially since I am now 30, about the age Sylvia Plath wrote the Bell Jar and the age she wrote Ariel, her magnus opus book of peoms. She was really a genius.