Yaddo at Smith

The exhibit "Unconquered by Flames: The Literary Light at Yaddo at Smith College" is one of 15 around the country celebrating the artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The exhibit is all over the library, which I think is a wonderful use of their limited space. The Plath/Hughes experience is the largest of the exhibits, with the most "stuff" and the most cases. In addition to "Sylvia Plath '55 & Ted Hughes at Yaddo, 1959", which is in the Book Arts Gallery, Neilson level 3, there is the Exhibit Overview, Neilson Library, 1st floor entrance, Lola Ridge at Yaddo, 1929-1930, Sophia Smith Collection, Alumnae Gym, Newton Arvin at Yaddo, 1928-1960, Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson level 3, and Constance Carrier '29 at Yaddo, 1975 & 1978, Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson level 3. Each exhibit illustrates the subjects relationship with Yaddo as well as the results, or products, of the stay. Often a manuscript is side by side with the published, final work.

Plath and Hughes were guests at Yaddo from September to November 1959; it proved to be a pivotal residency for Plath, as she wrote the poems that would complete her first book, The Colossus, and also wrote short stories that got her closer to her true voice, which manifested itself in The Bell Jar and Ariel.

The 14 display cases dedicated to Plath and Hughes are wonderfully clear, with a careful narrative constructed by the exhibit's mastermind, Karen V. Kukil. Each case displays a couple of pages of Plath's journals, and a mixture of photographs, poetry and short story manuscripts and typescripts, typed drafts, galley proofs, printed works, and correspondence with editors and mentors. First editions of The Colossus, The Bell Jar, Ariel and Birthday Letters can be seen, as well as other texts from Plath's library, such as her red cloth German in Review, complete with gouge marks. What Karen has done is taken material we are familiar with and assembled an intimate portrait of the poets as writers, as creators. This portrait itself allows for a new investigation and consideration of the way Plath worked and her output. Also it is clear just how professional and resourceful she was in marketing her work.

Along the wall are images of Plath and Hughes taken from Kukil's other exhibit, "No Other Appetite", which was hosted at the Grolier Club in New York City in 2005. (The catalog of "No Other Appetite" is for sale and is worth every single penny.)

The exhibit will start coming down in pieces later this month. If you're near Northampton, I recommend you stop by and see it. You'll see Plath in a new light, unconquered, even amidst fierce flames.