Linda Gray Sexton, the daughter of poet Anne Sexton, contributes the Op-Ed "A Tortured Inheritance" in today's New York Times. The Op-Ed is on the recent death of Nicholas Hughes, son of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes which of course gripped worldwide attention the week of March 23.
Sylvia Plath inspires us all in various and wonderful ways. She is in many respects a form of comfort to us, which is something that Esther Greenwood expresses in The Bell Jar , about a bath: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: 'I'll go take a hot bath.'" We read and remember Sylvia Plath for many reasons, many of them deeply personal and private. But we commemorate her, too, in very public ways, as Anna of the long-standing Tumblr Loving Sylvia Plath , has been tracking, in the form of tattoos. (Anna's on Instagram with it too, as SylviaPlathInk .) The above bath quote is among Sylvia Plath's most famous. It often appears here and there and it is stripped of its context. But I think most people will know it is from her nove...
I thought this piece surprisingly hollow and didn't go beyond stating the obvious. I enjoyed Linda's book about her mother and know she can write. I know I probably sound like a complete jerk critiquing this piece at all.
ReplyDeleteI found it rather obvious too. But no doubt this lady is still shocked and unsettled by what happened. . .more than most of us. I have a history of depression, and suicide attempts back in my teens (I am now 42) and I have been both saddened and disturbed by Nick Hughes' death. . .but both my parents are living. I suppose the Hughes children and the Sexton children belonged, without any effort on their part, to an exclusive and weird club consisting of themselves alone. (I don't mean to be flippant.) And now one of them-Nick-has broken rank. As it were. I mean no disrespect to him or them.
ReplyDeletePerhaps in due course, Linda will write on this in more depth. I hope so.
Thanks so much for sharing this. After I posted what I did, I had second (and third) thoughts about posting my opinion on this subject.
ReplyDeleteYes, she is part of that exclusive club, although she had the benefit of being raised by both her parents, no matter how imperfect.
I too have first-hand experience with depression, but no suicidal tendencies. After the initial shock of Nick's death (it is still echoing)I began hoping that Frieda is in a good Place right now because she has spoken of her own depression issues.
But regarding what Linda wrote I think she should have waited. She does have a vantage point like almost no other and must have a lot of good insight, but none of that ended up in her piece.