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.
I find it somewhat telling that the only pictures most of these papers are using of him are with his mother. So there's a huge photo of Sylvia Plath cradling a baby on the cover of the Times yesterday to illustrate the obituary of a 40-something man.
ReplyDeleteThe Telegraph included one photo of the adult Hughes -- at his father's funeral, with his sister and stepmother.
Hi Catty. Yes, these pictures are quite telling about the angle they are taking. The Evening Standard's photo was of the adult Nicholas Hughes presumably in Alaska with a fish. Looking very much like his father, this picture is perhaps the best one printed, if I can say something like that. At least it gives context to his identity, to who he became - which is someone his parents would have been proud of.
ReplyDeleteIt must be easier (to sell papers and get hits and "understand") to lump the two together.
Just read some of the other articles. That shit from the Daily Mail is absolutely vile, even for the Mail. And that First Post article is nothing but conjecture and claptrap.
ReplyDeleteI'll go have a look for the Evening Standard piece.
I can only imagine how Nicholas would be appalled at the haste with which his death is being judged, much like his mothers...and even used to further heap blame on her. Yes, these responses are, indeed, predictable...so much so that there is no need to read them. I just wish we wouldn't feature them so prominently here, where the most appropriate epitaph should properly be his mother's words, addressed to him in "Nick and the CAndlestick":
ReplyDeleteO love, how did you get here?
O embryo
Remembering, even in sleep,
Your crossed position.
The blood blooms clean
In you, ruby.
The pain
You wake to is not yours.
Love, love,
I have hung our cave with roses.
With soft rugs----
The last of Victoriana.
Let the stars
Plummet to their dark address,
Let the mercuric
Atoms that cripple drip
Into the terrible well,
You are the one
Solid the spaces lean on, envious.
You are the baby in the barn.
*
I am dismayed and heavy-hearted this morning....and my heart goes out to Frieda. May she find the strength to bear this further tragedy. --Jim Long
Agree with you completely, catty-the DAILY MAIL has exceeded itself in nastiness (and inaccuracy).The FIRST POST article is the worst kind of psychoanalytic (or quasi-psychoanalytic) claptrap : mother commits suicide, thus abandoning son who then grows up and kills himself. How reductionist.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter, for the link to the memorial page. I've just been over there and read of a warm, intelligent, passionate and kind man who any parent would be proud to have as a son. May he rest in peace.
And the laughs just keep on coming: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/poetry/article5970977.ece
ReplyDeleteI know this is superficial, I've read few articles so far, but clicked on the memoriam link that has the two wonderful color photos of Nick at UAF...and there, finally, after reading about Plath's brown eyes, get to see them shining from Nicholas, in all their unexaggerated brilliance.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, Hi! Thank you for posting. I've read very few articles as well - preferring The Guardian to any other source I've stuck to them. Though The Times had the lead. I agree with your assessment of those two photographs on the memorial page.
ReplyDeleteI just re-visited the memorial page to see if there were any new posts (there are) and re-viewed the pictures...and I know this is trivial, but this time I noticed that Nicholas has what appears to be a SAD light on his shelf.
ReplyDelete