Keys to the Wrong Cabinet: A review of The Plath Cabinet by Catherine Bowman

The poems in Catherine Bowman's new poetry collection The Plath Cabinet (Four Way Books, 2009) are inspired by Sylvia Plath. This is the second full length collection of poems about Plath to come out since Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes in 1998. The first collection was Stephanie Hemphill's Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath in 2005. While Hemphill's collection was a biography with line breaks, Bowman's work is something else altogether. Hemphill's book works because the biography is something we can fall back on and read in books and online. The majority of the poems in Bowman's The Plath Cabinet fail, for me, because I think there is something too personal, untouchable, and untraceable in them. They require, in many instances, a true familiarity with that which inspired many of the poems: the Plath archive. And then there is also a lot of Bowman herself in these poems: But I'm just interested in Plath.

The majority of my reviews on this blog have been on books of criticisms, biographies, collections of essays, etc. Though I did review Stephanie Hemphill's Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, I feel ill-equipped to review a collection of poems (about Plath or not): I'm not looking or reading at the "right" things. Like Birthday Letters, it is hard to read The Plath Cabinet as poems (and again, this is where Hemphill's book is successful: it's biographical and doesn't pretend not to be). I constantly look for facts, revelations, etc. that may help explains some of the mystery of the life and works of Sylvia Plath. I'm not looking at the poems as poems. Reading The Plath Cabinet makes me wish I studied different archival materials held at the Lilly Library because Bowman's poems do not work without that knowledge.

The blurb on the University Press of New England's website (accessed 16 March 2009) makes the following claims: "The Plath Cabinet is not simply an unparalleled biography: it is a memoir in poems, telling the story of Bowman’s relationship to Plath and to poetry. The Plath Cabinet is a must-read for Plath-lovers, for anyone interested in memoir and biography, and for all readers of contemporary poetry." It is in light of this that I seek to review The Plath Cabinet. I suppose we live in a society where our "relationships" with people we never knew is something to talk about: and just as I find my own "relationship" with Plath unimportant (it's not about me - this blog, my other webite - it's about Plath), so to do I find Bowman's. It is life imitating art: "Cold glass, how you insert yourself / Between myself and myself." (Plath, "The Other") But glass breaks and this "unparalled biography", this "memoir in poems" has a confused identity.

The first poem in the collection, "Sylvia's Mouths" is one of the best. This, and the other found poems ("Diary Starts, 1943", the "Things to Do" poems, etc.) work best, but these are Plath's own words. They've just been selected and re-mixed by Bowman. Bowman's calls "Sylvia's Mouths" a collage, and that reminds me that the the acknowledgments section is mostly well done and for the most part responsibly. However, I'd like to know all the sources and citations for these found poems. And, there are some italicized lines throughout the book that appear to be quotes from letters, poems, or some other source. None of these are cited in the back, and some of which are incorrectly quoted. The paper doll poems show the power of Bowman's mind; but their appearance on the cover is better than the sum of the poems. The poem "Dimensions" is strange, and the "Wedding Invitation" poems too numerous. The first one was clever, the rest almost redundant and predictable.

For those not interested in factual corrections of this "unparalleled biography", please do not continue. The structure below will be the name of the poem, the page number, the questionable line(s), and then the question I have or the correction.

"Sylvia's Bed"
Page: 6
Lines 1-2: 'Smaller than the stone / cold sea off Sand Flat Cemetery.'
Sand Flat Cemetery is in Smith County, Texas, which being outside Dallas does not quite work. I think Bowman is referring to the cemetery in Winthrop called, boringly maybe, Winthrop Cemetery?

"Sylvia's Stove"
Page: 10
Line 4: 'Arriving in London in January subzero'
Sylvia Plath moved to London in December 1962 when the incident described in the poem happened.

"Sylvia's Sled"
Page: 14
Line 6: "Winthrop's backwoods"
Have you been to Winthrop, Massachusetts? Backwoods? What?

"Sylvia's Snakecharmer"
Page: 24, Section 1
Lines 1-8: The lines have to do with Plath's hair held in the archive at the Lilly Library. The braid was not sold by Plath herself to the Library, so it is not likely that she could have either negoiated the price, purchased practicalities or bought Ted a steak. The only thing Plath did sell to the Lilly Library was her "scrap" paper of poems that comprised The Colossus. Plath was paid about $280 for them in November 1961 by Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, who was buying manuscripts for the Lilly Library.

Line 10: 'In your Boston suite, 61 Willow Street'
The suite was 61, but the address was 9 Willow Street. I think I understand what Bowman was doing here, but the structure of the line is awkward as a result. This would have worked, 'In your suite, number Nine Willow Street'.

"Last Wishes, 1963"
Pages 28-29
All lines.
The way the poem reads, most of these "wishes" occurred - or would have - in 1962.

"Things to Do, 1951"
Page 38
Line 24: 'At the Sand Flats cemetery.'
So, now it's Sand Flats (plural) cemetery (lower case)? I don't think Plath visited Smith County, Texas, outside of Dallas, at any time in 1951. Of course, if she did have a bed there, who knows?

"Sylvia's Passport"
Page 43
Lines 2-4: 'little green book, / the same slim green as a Faber / and Faber first volume'
The first Faber and Faber book by Plath is The Bell Jar (1966). The boards on this publication are black. The first 'volume' of poetry by Plath Faber published was in 1965, Ariel. The boards were red. Bowman here is referring to the first Heinemann edition of The Colossus which was printed between green boards. At three-quarters of an inch, Plath thought her Heinemann Colossus was a healthy size. Hardly slim.

Page 47
Line 4: 'I would admire the gravity of it.'
This quote from Plath's wonderful poem "A Birthday Present" is missing the word 'deep'. It should read "I would admire the deep gravity of it".

"Dimensions"
Page 54
All lines.
?*&^%#^&*#(*$&.
The oven isn't part of the archive, is it? Smith has a baby crib and a typewriter, and a check stub for the oven. But Smith isn't acknowledged as a source in the Acknowledgments.

"Things to Eat, Paris, 1953"
Page 61
This is likely a found poem too, using Plath's journals, letters or other sources. The title in the table of contents and on the page says 1953; but in the acknowledgments, the title uses 1955. This is just bad editing as Plath clearly was not in Paris in 1953. Then again, I have an advance copy that someone else didn't want, so it is possible these were fixed?

Contrary to appearances, I did not obsess too much with these poems. This sub-genre of writing poetry or fiction about Plath is tiresome. The "real" story of Sylvia Plath is so interesting and fascinating and contentious that it really doesn't need to be re-made by poets and other creative writers. If all the research and effort taken into this kind of work was put into non-fiction, put into solving mysteries, put into shifting the unjustly negative reputation built throughout the 1960s and particularly 1970s, there is a strong possibility we would actually learn something new or continue to actually modify Plath's reputation. The blurbs on the back of the book are laudatory, as one might expect. I apologize to Bowman and to David Trinidad, a man I particularly admire, for I am taking Trinidad's words on the back cover far out of context: I hope this is the "last (lyrical) word on Plath".

Saxton on Nicholas Hughes

In the Sunday Times, March 29, 2009, Joe Saxton remembers his friend Nick Hughes. Read "What suicide gene? My friend Nick was brilliant, passionate and fun".

This is a long, thoughtful, considerate remembrance of a man we as Sylvia Plath readers, fans, scholars, etc. "knew" only as a baby. Thank you, Mr. Saxton.

New information on Nicholas Hughes

The media blitzkrieg surrounding the suicide of Nicholas Hughes has led many to immediately connect it to his mother's suicide in 1963. Ben Hoyle at The Times authored "Death of Ted Hughes 'drove his son Nicholas towards suicide'", a follow-up article to his March 23 news-breaking story.

In this article, he quotes one of Nicholas Hughes's oldest friends, Joe Saxton, in which Saxton's opinion is that it was the death of Ted Hughes - and not that of Sylvia Plath's - that had a direct relationship to Nicholas' mental health troubles, and ultimately his suicide.

While it is certainly more plausible for this to be the "cause" but unfortunately with suicide it is really all a mystery. Which in part has fuelled the conversity for almost five decades surrounding Sylvia Plath's death. Cancer and other causes of death are readily explainable and, to a certain degree, understandable. Suicide is the exact opposite. It is a private decision made for private reasons and no matter whether a note was left or not, Nicholas' reasons were his reasons there is not much more we can say about that. We want to be able to name something - place blame, whatever - in the absence of something concrete or tangible - like a tumor. But it really just makes us all look a bit desparate. I'm not a medical doctor and don't put much stock in psychobabble, but nothing everything is explainable and that is ok.

Mr. Saxton spoke with another friend of Nicholas's in Alaska and, according to the Hoyle article Nicholas was in a rough patch and "he just fell through the cracks in one brief moment". This is actually closer to Sylvia Plath's suicide, as anyone who has studied her final weeks well knows. Plath moved to London in December 1962 and was very busy fixing up her flat, making plans and committments, seeing friends, and writing really wonderful prose and poetry. And then comes that weekend when she could no longer cope, and she, too, "fell through the cracks in one brief moment".

Ted Hughes, in letters to Keith Sagar, blamed the drug that Plath was put on for her suicide. Of all the theories and rationalizations for Plath suicide, this may fit more than anything else. It is quite possibly the only thing that "changed" in the last week or so of her life. If Nicholas, too, experienced adverse reactions to anti-depressant medication it could also have had an influence on the decision he made on March 16. What a hypocrite I am, trying to explain it!

Aftermath

The aftermath of Nicholas Hughes' suicide is now upon us. Judith Flanders writes in The Guardian today "This is not a curse Reactions to Nicholas Hughes's death are all too predictable". This is a very good response and reaction to the sensation that blew in yesterday. Especially the closing paragraph.

And then on the other side:

• The Mirror's "Sylvia Plath's son Nicholas Hughes hangs himself, like his mother" by Rebecca Evans. The headline indicates that Plath hung herself, which we know is incorrect.
  
• Equally atrocious is the First Post's "Sylvia Plath and the child she killed" by Coline Covington. It must be easier to blame Plath for Nicholas' decision.

Other recent news articles and obituaries are:

• Geoffrey Levy's "His father drove his mother to kill herself. So what does the suicide of Ted Hughes' son tell us about his poisonous legacy?" in the Daily Mail,
  
• Christina Patterson's "This tragedy has nothing to do with poetry, nothing to do with art" in The Independent, and
  
• Ian Sample's "Death in the family" in The Independent, as well. From the headlines it is easy enough to determine decent, responsible reporting versus gossip hungry, sensationalistic blather.
  
• Mona Molarsky's obituary, "Nicholas Hughes, son of Sylvia Plath, commits suicide", appeared today at the Examiner.com.

No matter anyone's opinions on Sylvia Plath, Nicholas Hughes, and the Hughes family - may Frieda Hughes and the remaining members of that line and the friends that cared for them have some privacy and peace. I had a phone call yesterday from Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund who looked after Frieda and Nicholas in 1963 after Plath's death and remained in their lives throughout the 1960s. She was distraught and like the rest of us - without words. This is another difference between those invested in the work (and life) of Sylvia Plath and the media - those that actually care (in whatever degree it is possible from however removed we are) are just left speechless.

The School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks has created a memorial page for Nicholas Hughes. This may be the best place to learn about him.

Nicholas Hughes, son of Sylvia Plath, dies by suicide

The Times, and other news sources, are reporting the suicide of Nicholas Hughes, the son of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.

Other news stories: The Telegraph, Los Angeles Times Blog, Fairbanks Daily News Miner, The Guardian, Daily Mail, New York Times, BBC News, New York Press, Evening Standard, Toronto Globe and Mail, USA Today, CNN, ...

At the Guardian Blog, Judith Flanders writes, "Nicholas Hughes's death tells us nothing about Sylvia Plath's poetry".

Erica Wagner contribues an article to The Times, "Obsession with self set limits on Sylvia Plath's poetry".

Nicholas Farrar Hughes
January 17, 1962-March 16, 2009

Now Available: The Plath Cabinet

Amazon.com lists Catherine Bowman's new collection of poems, The Plath Cabinet, as available.

Sylvia Plath: One hit wonder

The Times has published a Top 10 list of literary one-hit wonders! Plath's The Bell Jar, made the list. Neatly, they've included the original reviews.

Click here to read what was said on January 24, 1963.

Rather it should say that Victoria Lucas was the one hit wonder, non?

Update on Prince and the Flur's

Sylvia Plath fans booking tickets to New York to visit the Morgan Library may want to make other plans. Through Philobiblos, I've learned that Richard Prince is not in talks with the Morgan to donate and exhibit his collection. Bummer.

Last Sunday I met Sweden's Sonja and Florian Flur in Winthrop and toured a selection of Plath sites in Winthrop, Wellesley, Jamaica Plain and Boston. We had a beautiful day, just as Plath described in her journal on March 9, 1959 - the day she and Ted Hughes visited Winthrop. At the grave of Otto Plath, we compared Plath's writing in three separate pieces: her journal, the poem "Electra on Azalea Path", and in The Bell Jar. It was a very memorable day.

Faber's 80th Sylvia Plath covers

On 7 May 2009, Faber will release two new editions of books by Plath: The Bell Jar and Selected Poems (selected and edited by Ted Hughes). These are part of their 80th anniversary editions. Here are the covers!

Buy Brennan's Book on Plath

Columbia University Press, future publisher of Luke Ferretter's Sylvia Plath's Fiction: A Critical Study, is having a spring sale.

The only Plath title available is The Poetry of Sylvia Plath: Essays, Articles, Reviews edited by Claire Brennan (paperback, 208 pages, ISBN: 978-0-231-12427-0). The original price was $20.50; but it can be yours - while supplies last - for a mere $4.10. If you want the cloth edition, it'll still cost $75.50.

Deborah Nelson's Pursuing Privacy in Cold War America is also on sale at $5.60 (down from $22.00). While not just about Plath, she does receive some coverage. Nelson, you may recall, published the essay "Plath, History and Politics" in Jo Gill's 2006 Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath .

If you don't stimulate the economy - no one will!

New Book on Plath Published

UPDATE: 3 April 2009: The book is now available through Amazon.com and other book sites. I've got mine - have you got yours?

CORRECTION: 13 March 2009: The book is not quite ready due to some production problems, but hopefully before too long it will be available for purchase. I'll update as I can.

Released a week ago: Releasing Philosophy, Thinking Art: A Phenomenological Study of Sylvia Plath's Poetry by Ellen Miller. This book is published by The Davies Group Publishers. Amazon lists the book for $24.

The product description reads: "In this first, full-¬length philosophical examination of Sylvia Plath’s work the author develops an applied phenomenological study of her poetry. Releasing Philosophy, Thinking Art explores how Plath's poetic themes overlap contemporary philosophical questions in the philosophy of language, environmental ethics, and feminist theory. This book will appeal to a wide audience in many areas of philosophy as well as those concerned with literature, art criticism, women's studies, and religious studies."

Sylvia Plath: Did you know...

Sylvia Plath long sought to publish poetry and short stories in The New Yorker, one of the most esteemed periodicals of all time.

Plath received a first reading contract from The New Yorker on 28 February 1961, while she was recovering in hospital from having her appendix removed. The contract came with a check for $100, and meant that Plath would send all her new poetry to them first. To that point, Plath had placed six poems with The New Yorker. Beginning with her first publication of "Mussel Hunter at Rock Harbor" in the 9 August 1958 issue (pictured above), she published also:

"Night Walk" (later "Hardcastle Crags") on 11 October 1958;
"A Winter's Tale" on 12 December 1959; (pictured below)
"Man in Black" on 9 April 1960;
"Water Color of Grantchester Meadows (Cambridge, England)" on 28 May 1960;
"The Net Menders" on 20 August 1960.

Did you know that in Plath's lifetime, after she signed this contract, The New Yorker accepted only three additional poems? "On Deck" appeared on 22 July 1961; "Tulips" appeared on 7 April 1962; and "Blackberrying" on September 15, 1962.

From the time she signed this contract, which was renewed in 1962, Plath had slightly greater success publishing poems in rival magazines such as Harper's, and literary journals such as London Magazine and Poetry.

Prince of Plath

The Sunday Times reports that Richard Prince - one of the world’s most dedicated bibliophiles - is planning to give away a multi-million-dollar collection of 20th-century literary treasures.

Two items of interest to this blog & its readers are a letter written by Sylvia Plath dated February 10, 1963 - the day before she committed suicide. The recipient of the letter was not revealed. Prince also has a copy of Plath's first published book The Colossus. The copy is special in that Plath drew a little heart next to Hughes’s name.

The Morgan Library in New York City is in negotiations to acquire the Prince's collection.