Fall into Sylvia Plath

Now that fall is here (Hello Fall), let’s take a brief look at what people in New York City have to look forward to this season.

Broadway World has a preview of Robert Shaw’s production of Sylvia Plath’s “Three Women”. and Edward Anthony’s “Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath” starring Elisabeth Gray.

New York Theater Guide has also written up “Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath”.

I’ve recently had an email from Robert Shaw stating that rehearsals are underway in Manhattan with the cast starring Francis Benhamou, Angela Church, and Kina Bermudez. I’m told that the set will be slightly redesigned from the performances in Edinburgh (for any repeat attendees). Look for some media coverage around 3 October in the New York Times.

You can find more information on “Three Women here” and on “Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath” here.

And, don’t forget that Plath is being inducted into Poet’s Corner in New York’s own Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Read about it here.

If you happen to live in England, you might want to plan to be in the Hebden Bridge & Mytholmroyd area between 15-17 October for a three day 2010 Ted Hughes Festival. On Sunday the 17th, ticket holders will get to meet and hear Daniel Huws - who rarely gives public readings - read from his poety and “answer questions about Ted Hughes.” Huws, you may remember, is the author of the scandalous review of Plath’s lengthily titled poem “‘Three Caryatids Without a Portico' by Hugh Robus: A Study in Sculptural Dimensions”. The review appeared in Broadsheet and read "My better half tells me 'Fraud, fraud,' but I will not say so; who am I to know how beautiful she may be?"

Famous Quotes of Sylvia Plath

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...

Some final photographs of Sylvia Plath

Susan O'Neill-Roe took a series of photographs of Sylvia Plath and her children from October to late November (or maybe early December) 1962 while she was a day nanny/mother's help at Court Green. From nearby Belstone , it was a short drive to North Tawton and the aid she provided enabled Plath to complete the masterful October and November poems and also to make day or overnight trips to London for poetry business and other business. Some of O'Neill-Roe's photographs are well-known. However, a cache of photographs formed a part of the papers of failed biographer Harriet Rosenstein. They were sold separately from the rest of her papers that went to Emory. I was fortunate enough to see low resolution scans of them a while back so please note these are being posted today as mere reference quality images. There are two series here. The first of the children with Plath dressed in red and black. (This should be referred to in the future, please, as Plath's Stendhal-c...

Sylvia Plath's Gravestone Vandalized

The following news story appeared online this morning: HEPTONSTALL, ENGLAND (APFS) - The small village of Heptonstall is once again in the news because of the grave site of American poet Sylvia Plath. The headstone controversy rose to a fever pitch in 1989 when Plath's grave was left unmarked for a long period of time after vandals repeatedly chiseled her married surname Hughes off the stone marker. Author Nick Hornby commented, "I like Plath, but the controversy reaching its fever pitch in the 80s had nothing to do with my book title choice." Today, however, it was discovered that the grave was defaced but in quite an unlikely fashion. This time, Plath's headstone has had slashed-off her maiden name "Plath," so the stone now reads "Sylvia Hughes." A statement posted on Twitter from @masculinistsfortedhughes (Masculinists for Ted Hughes) has claimed responsibility saying that, "We did this because as Ted Hughes' first wife, Sylvia de...

Search This Blog