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...
Gorgeous to have more of these gorgeous drawings with lovely captions on the eve of Plath's birthday.
ReplyDelete''Don't be an art critic, but paint. There lies salvation.'' Cezanne
Kristina
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It's great to know how many pieces will be included in the exhibit. And by making them available to us online it really makes it 'easier' when considering that I am unable to travel to see it! Far and wide, this is a great "birthday present" for Plath & her readers (be they female, male, uncritical, critical...).
pks
Re: the Spoonfed article - not all shows at commercial galleries mean the objects shown are for sale. I've not seen this mentioned in any other article so my guess is that they are not being sold, but you never know. Once the exhibition is unveiled in November, I assume we'll know more. I am intrigued by the drawing of the shoes with the caption 'Bell Jar'.......
ReplyDeleteKim!
ReplyDeleteHi there. This "Bell Jar" one is also a sketch Kristina mentioned liking in the previous posts' comments.
Eight sketches were printed in Lois Ames' "Sylvia Plath: A Biographical Note" which appears after the novel in the US edition of The Bell Jar. Using the Telegraph's and Observer's captions, six of those sketches in The Bell Jar can be identified:
1. The Pleasure of Odds and Ends
2. The Bell Jar
3. Tabac Opposite Palais de Justice
4. Wuthering Heights (from Observer article)
5. Harbour Cornucopia, Wisconsin
6. Sketch of The Anchor and adjacent buildings, Cambridge (not in either recently published article)
7. Sketch of three boats (also, not in either recently published article)
8. Untitled (Study of a Church and Chapel)
The one of the shoes captioned "The Bell Jar" is obviously not in either Plath's or Hughes' hand. It is most likely in an editor's hand from Harper & Row from circa 1970/1971 when the novel was in production.
I do like that they have referenced lines from The Bell Jar.
pks