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Showing posts from February, 2009

Bere on Letters of Ted Hughes

Just one link to pass on this week... Carol Bere recently published " Getting Out of the Flames " - her review of the Letters of Ted Hughes - in Contemporary Poetry Review . Enjoy!

Two additional essays to look forward to reading

In addition to his forthcoming book Sylvia Plath's Fiction: A Critical Study , please keep an eye out for these two essays by Luke Ferretter: ‘"The Influence of Somebody Upon Something": To the Lighthouse in Sylvia Plath's Work'. Woolf Editing, Editing Woolf: Selected Papers from the Eighteenth International Conference on Virginia Woolf , ed. Eleanor McNees and Sara Veglahn. (Clemson, SC: Clemson University Press, 2009). ‘"What Girl Ever Flourished in Such Company?": Sylvia Plath's Religion'. Yearbook of English Studies: Religion and Literature , ed. Andrew Tate. (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2009).

2009 Forthcoming titles - Update

Below is an updated list of titles expected to be published this year, as could be found through various sources. Books by Sylvia Plath: In the US: The Bell Jar . Harper Perennial P.S. (3 November 2009) In the UK: The Bell Jar . Faber & Faber 80th Anniversary Edition. (7 May 2009) Selected Poems . Faber & Faber 80th Anniversary Edition. (7 May 2009) Works about Sylvia Plath: The Plath Cabinet by Catherine Bowman. Four Way. (US: 1 April 2009/UK: 15 April 2009) Sylvia Plath by Connie Ann Kirk. Prometheus Books. (US: 21 April 2009/UK: 1 April 2009 Sylvia Plath's Fiction: A Critical Study by Luke Ferretter. University of Edinburgh Press. (US: 15 May 2009/UK: 15 July 2009) Plath Profiles . Volume 2. ( World Wide Web : ca. August 2009) Plath Profiles is still accepting submissions for Volume 2. If you have an essay, book review, or work inspired by Plath, consider Plath Profiles . Click here for submission guidelines and deadlines . Essays, book reviews, and

Sylvia Plath collections: University of Edinburgh

The Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters at the University of Reading (U.K.) indicates that the University of Edinburgh owns typescripts and/or photocopies of the following poems by Sylvia Plath: "Daddy", "Morning Song", and "Lady Lazarus". These Plath materials are held in the Norman MacCaig papers (MS.3208.10-11). All three poems are typescripts, possibly carbons. They are typed, but it is unclear by whom. Both "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" merge two stanzas together, and someone in an unidentified hand wrote "space" in the margins. Here and there words are crossed out. These typecripts do not necessarily match typescripts of the those poems held at the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College. The typescript of "Morning Song" is unmarked. Handwritten on each typescript is "Sylvia Plath" in the top right corner. The handwriting is the same as handwriting on "Daddy" an

Hypocritic Oaf - A Book Review

Bloom's Guide to Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar was recently published by Chelsea House. There is a special place in my heart for Chelsea House as they are the publisher of my biography on Plath . Any Plath title under one of the many Bloom series published by Chelsea House must be approached carefully - and even then, possibly not at all. (Unless it's my biography!) Bloom really does not care much for Plath. In the four or five publications which he has edited and/or written an introduction, I am left each time thinking the following: 1) Why did I buy this book? and 2) Why does Bloom even bother to include Plath in any series he edits? Fortunately this title was sent to me buy the publisher to review. Unfortunately I cannot recommend it. Bloom's introduction is barely longer than one page. Here are some representative samples: "Though I recall being unable to get very far with it [in 1971], one learns to be more dispassionate as old age augments...&qu

Sylvia Plath Obituaries

Today is the 46th anniversary of Sylvia Plath's death. While Plath was known in some poetry and literary circles at the time of her death, there were only a few obituaries printed in February 1963. Throughout 1963, however, as her poetry and prose appeared in print, small obituary notices appeared alongside the work. The following is a list of some of the obituaries and tributes to Plath in the months after her death. If you know of any not listed here, please let me know! Alvarez, A. "A Poet's Epitaph." The Observer . February 17, 1963: 23. Alvarez, A. "Sylvia Plath." The Review 9. October 1963: 20-26. "Contributors." Poetry 102. August 1963: 347. Hamilton, Ian. “Poetry.” London Magazine New Series 3. July 1963: 54-56. Hughes, Ted. "Note preceeding ten poems." Encounter 21. October 1963: 45. Note. The Listener . August 29, 1963: 312. "'A Poet's Epitaph' Honors the late Sylvia Plath Hughes." The Townsman

New Book Covers on SylviaPlath.info

This is a post to advertise many of the new* book covers added recently to A celebration, this is . The following books can be found on the Books, Criticisms, Memoirs & others page : Sylvia Plath: Voice and Vision by Gayle Wurst (1999), Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar edited by Harold Bloom (2009), The Plath Cabinet by Catherine Bowman (2009). The cover for Bowman's The Plath Cabinet reproduces some of the paper dresses held at the the Lilly Library, Indiana University at Bloomington. The paper dresses largely inspired Bowman's poetry collection. And, for my favorite, which can be found on the Prose books page : The Bell Jar (Braille edition - Cover) and The Bell Jar (Braille edition - Title Page, pictured left. You may have to angle your monitor differently or crane your neck a bit to see the text). The Braille edition is a four volume, spiral bound set, printed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People , London, England. Of course Braille is named for Louis

Writing to Art

Sylvia Plath's own artwork has received much attention in the last seven years. The Eye Rhymes exhibit at the Sylvia Plath 70th Year Symposium at Indiana University, Bloomington, in 2002, and the book Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath's Art of the Visual (edited by Kathleen Connors and Sally Bayley) published in 2007, led the way. And, artists inspired by Plath's work were given special exhibition at the Sylvia Plath 75th Year Symposium. Plath, who considered majoring in art at Smith College, had an emotional and creative reaction to artwork, in a wide range of mediums. Doris Kraler-Bergmann's recently published Sylvia Plath's Lyrical Responses to Works of Art: A Portrait of the Artist(s) (VDM Verlag, 2008) approaches Plath as a viewer of artistic works and as one who responds, lyrically, to them. This is called ekphrasis. Merriam Webster defines this as "a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art." The focus of Kraler-Bergmann's boo