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Did you know... Sylvia Plath's Fractured Fibula

Sylvia Plath visited Richard Norton at Ray Brook near Saranac Lake in New York in late December 1952, she broke her leg skiing on Mount Pisgah: her fibula to be exact. In a letter to Myron "Mike" Lotz, she recounts rather vividly the event which took place on 28 December. She tells him that as she cartwheeled down the mountain a song was playing on the loudspeaker. Did you know... that the song playing was "You Belong To Me."



There were a couple of versions of this song out in 1952; the above by Sue Thompson appears to have been the first, but a cover version by Jo Stafford was also near the "tops in pops," as Lenny Shepherd would say.

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  1. Anonymous16 January, 2012 22:15

    Nice blog...and I learn something new. I never knew Plath had fractured her fibula, but always thought 'In Plaster' could only have been composed by someone who had actually suffered and recovered from a broken leg.

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  2. Julia Gordon-Bramer17 January, 2012 21:54

    Yeah, the only place I don't feel connected with Plath is music. She doesn't seem to have been much into rock and roll. I can appreciate the Beethoven she and Ted loved, though.

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  3. Anonymous19 January, 2012 12:49

    Hi Peter,

    Interesting to see Plath linked to contemporary pop music. Was she at all influenced by newer music? Could this song have resurfaced in some way in her work??

    See the pyramids along the Nile/a mummy-case Wears the face of a pharaoh

    Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle/reflecting the sun
    From her amazingly white torso

    ..and a few others.

    S

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