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.
28 March 2009
25 March 2009
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 commitments, 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!
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 commitments, 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!
Labels:
Frieda Hughes
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Nicholas Hughes
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Sylvia Plath
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Ted Hughes
24 March 2009
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 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
Labels:
Frieda Hughes
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Nicholas Hughes
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Olwyn Hughes
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Sylvia Plath
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Ted Hughes
22 March 2009
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
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
Labels:
Nicholas Hughes
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Sylvia Plath
21 March 2009
Now Available: The Plath Cabinet
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Books
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Publications
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Sylvia Plath
18 March 2009
Sylvia Plath: One hit wonder
Click here to read what was said on January 24, 1963.
Rather it should say that Victoria Lucas was the one hit wonder, non?
Labels:
Sylvia Plath
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The Bell Jar
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.
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.
Labels:
Links Etc.
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Sylvia Plath
15 March 2009
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!
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Book covers
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Faber 80th
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Publications
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Selected Poems
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Sylvia Plath
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The Bell Jar
12 March 2009
Buy Brennan's Book on Plath
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!
Labels:
Books
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Essays
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Sylvia Plath
10 March 2009
New Book on Plath Published

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."
Labels:
Books
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Criticism
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Publications
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Sylvia Plath
07 March 2009
Sylvia Plath: Did you know...
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.
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.
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Did you know...
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Sylvia Plath
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The New Yorker
02 March 2009
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.
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.
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