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Sylvia Plath in the Grecourt Review

Sylvia Plath's colleague at Smith College, Marlies Kallmann Danziger, passed away in March 2018. She taught at Smith when Plath was a student and a colleague in the department of English at Smith College in the 1957-1958 academic year.

This copy of the Grecourt Review 1 from November 1957, which prints Plath's poem "All the Dead Dears", may have been her's as it bears the ownership inscription "Miss Kallman" on the cover (bottom left). I acquired this copy back in 2012 and never did anything with it (I had always meant to present it on the blog but just never did; got distracted by a little project on her Letters). But, having just learned of her passing, I felt it was worth writing about now.


Danziger appears in Plath's journals in several entries (12 January 1958, 22 January 1958, 8 February 1958, 27 February 1958, 5 May 1958 (twice), and 19 May 1958).

Kallman apparently lived in Albright House and had her office in Library 52, according to a staff directory for Smith (pictured below). Smith College archivist Nanci Young informed me that back then, each house had a house mother and a faculty adviser living in residence with the students. However, according to Plath' journals, Marlies lived with her husband, Erwin, at the weekends... which makes sense as after seeing a performance of Denis Johnston's adaptation of Finnegans Wake in Holyoke, Plath and Hughes went to Marlies' house for whiskey and it is not likely that this was in Albright House!


I have not yet tracked down where Erwin Danzinger lived at the time but if I do I will add it to the post.

All links accessed 7 May 2018.

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