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Plath, Bowen & Sarton

Sylvia Plath began working for Mademoiselle prior to the June 1, 1953 start of her guest editorship. On May 26, Plath went to the Cambridge, Massachusetts home of the writer May Sarton. It was there, at 14 Wright Street (pictured), that she interviewed Elizabeth Bowen for a profile in the August issue. For the profile, Plath was photographed with Bowen. The article ran on page 282.

The Sylvia Plath Collection at the Mortimer Rare Book Room holds a contact sheet with 11 images of the Plath/Bowen interview (SP-11), as well as one larger print of the image published in Mademoiselle (SP-12).

Additionally, the Sylvia Plath Materials at Indiana University contain many of Plath's letters and instructions from Mademoiselle, prior to and during her Guest Editorship. Included with these is a 2 page document of instructions from Jane Mayberry for the interview (Box 12, Folder 7).

In the summer of 1954, Plath lived just five-minutes (walking casually but with determination, in sensible shoes) from Sarton's house, at 1572 Massachusetts Avenue.

For those keeping count, this is the 400th post on this blog. Thank you all for reading, for encouraging, and for Plathing.
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Comments

  1. Jenny Lerew06 September, 2009 17:55

    Fascinating details...I'd love to see the unused photographs of her interview as well as the other ephemera some day-meanwhile it's nice to know they exist and are preserved.

    Congratulations on continuing to maintain a great resource in this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. panther07 September, 2009 03:27

    I didn't know of the Sarton connection.I picture both Bowen and Sarton being very encouraging towards the much younger writer Plath. That kind of validation by someone in the field is SO important.

    ReplyDelete
  3. George Fitzgerald07 September, 2009 12:15

    This is not Plathian, Sartonian, or Bowenish ... but I just google mapped 14 Wright St. and must say that the house has been spiffed up wonderfully since Google photographed it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Peter K Steinberg07 September, 2009 13:21

    George,

    Thanks for your comment! The house at 14 Wright is back a couple of houses from the one that show's up on Google Maps. Go backwards, against the suggested flow of traffic, to see it.

    Cheers
    peter

    ReplyDelete

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