But did you ever wonder to what specifically Plath was replying? See below:
The twenty-six responses were submitted by (in order of appearance in the issue): Robert Graves, George Seferis, Stephen Spender, C. Day Lewis, Philip Larkin, Lawrence Durrell, Roy Fuller, Robert Conquest, Laurie Lee, Thomas Blackburn, Derek Walcott, Judith Wright, D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, Charles Causley, Bernard Spencer, Vernon Watkins, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Edwin Brock, Hugo Williams, John Fuller, Julian Mitchell, Elizabeth Jennings, Anthony Thwaite, and Norman Nicholson. Thirteen of the poets had their photographs printed: Plath and Hughes did not. Hughes' own "Context," reprinted in Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose, begins: "The poet's only hope is to be infinitely sensitive to what his gift is, and this in itself seems to be another gift that few poets possess."
Eighteen of those twenty-six contributors had poems in the issue as well. Perhaps the one readers might be most interested other than Plath's is Hughes' poem "Still Life." The eight writers that did not have a poem were: Robert Graves, George Seferis, Stephen Spender, Lawrence Durrell, Laurie Lee, John Fuller, Robert Conquest and Norman Nicholson.
Of course the best way to put Plath's "Context" in context is to read "Context" in context of the journal issue.
P.S.: Cook's article appeared in the October 28, 1961 issue of Nation. (For more on Plath's reading see Robin Peel's Writing Back: Sylvia Plath and Cold War Politics, pages 72-73.)
Thanks for this! Ah, and more mentions of my good friend Lawrence Durrell. :-)
ReplyDeleteJulia: I knew the presence of Durrell would interest you.
ReplyDeleteJulio: Yes, It would have also been -circa this letter being written to her- when Plath was writing her responses to the London Magazine's query too.
Yes, while Plath exhibits a vocal, long-term interest in politics, perhaps Hughes had a different view of things & a different way of expressing his beliefs: at a minimum he certainly took up environmental causes, quite passionately. And I'm certain there were other things - political, worldly - about which his concerns were devout.
You might have seen that Ted Hughes wrote in his Letters that the reason that he and Sylvia chose Devon as a location was because they were concerned about nuclear fallout. Remember too, that Frieda's first outing was a Ban the Bomb march.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Yes, we have definitely seen a bit of Ted mis-remembering and perhaps correcting the past in his letters...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Peter! Is there anywhere one can read the whole response she gave?
ReplyDeleteCarmen - thank you for your comment. "Context" is printed in the collection of Plath's short stories and prose pieces called Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.
ReplyDeletepks
As a follow up, Plath IS NOT in the May 1957 London Magazine that Alan Sinfield claims in his book. That May 1957 issue of the London Magazine features 9 responses by the following contributing authors: Maurice Cranston, D. J. Enright, Roy Fuller, William Golding, Philip Larkin, John Osborne, Stephen Spender, John Wain, and Colin Wilson. Before wasting my money to buy a copy of this issue, I should have realized that 1957 was "too early" for Plath & the London Magazine, and certainly too early for them to be looking to her to respond to a special investigation of then current issues. Regardless, she was and considered herself to be a "political person."
ReplyDeleteThank you for the quick reply, Peter!
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