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Book Annoucement: The Selected Writings of Assia Wevill

Dr. Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick and I are happy to announce that we have signed a contract with the Louisiana State University Press to co-edit The Selected Writings of Assia Wevill.



I am exceedingly thrilled to work on this project with Julie who brings her tireless, inquisitive, and passionate excitement to this project, as do I.

More details should be forthcoming as we work on and submit the manuscript by the end of 2019.

In the meantime, I recommend we all look forward to reading Julie's forthcoming book, Reclaiming Assia Wevill: Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, and the Literary Imagination, when it is published next year.

All links accessed: 19 August 2018.

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Comments

  1. Kristina Zimbakova20 August, 2018 09:01

    What a surprise!! Congratulations and I wish you both plenty of inspiration and good luck throughout.

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  2. Eva Stenskar20 August, 2018 09:31

    Good for you Peter! Congratulations and best of luck! As usual, can't wait to read it.

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  3. Annika20 August, 2018 09:36

    I agree, what a surprise! But surely a woman who deserves her own narrative and identity, beyond that of 'the other woman'. Congratulations, Peter! I look forward to reading this.

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  4. Amy Rea20 August, 2018 10:06

    Congrats! Can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous20 August, 2018 15:08

    I am an avid consumer of the works of Hughes and Plath and their circles, but when it comes to Wevill, I can't help but pause. She killed a 4-year old child and I don't know how to approach her or her work outside of this context. Any thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Peter K Steinberg21 August, 2018 13:22

    Kristina, Eva, Annika and Amy: Thank you so much for your comments and congratulations for the project I am working on with Julie! Much appreciated.

    Thank you, too, Anonymous, for yours. I think that perhaps Annika above summed it up pretty nicely, "surely a woman who deserves her own narrative and identity, beyond that of 'the other woman'." My own interest in the project are many. As someone interested in Plath and Hughes, Wevill is a integral part of that story. It is undeniable that she killed her daughter when she killed herself and that is a very difficult aspect of the person Assia Wevill was. Believe me it gives me pause, too. But I do not think it is right to judge her on that act. You and others may disagree with me for that & that is perfectly alright.

    I've entered into this project with an open mind which is I think the best place to start and I hope that doesn't sound dismissive or too elementary. I hope Assia Wevill is more complicated as a result of our work and by that I mean I hope she presents herself through her various texts as a person to be taken more seriously than her role in the break-up of Plath's and Hughes's marriage and for the manner in which died and other decisions that are unsettling. If you decide not to read the book, that's fine too!

    ~pks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dibakar Sarkar31 July, 2020 17:24

      Peter, you always have the time to answer all mails and others, you are indeed indefatigable. Looking forward to buy the book.

      Delete
  7. A Piece of Plathery24 August, 2018 03:44

    I am sure this will be a fascinating exercise and can’t wait to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nonna Marcella16 September, 2018 09:30

    It can seem a terrible thing that she also killed her own daughter when intending to kill herself....but think of how cruellly Ted Hughes behaved towards her, first using her as a stepping stone to leave his marriage to Plath, then as a mother substitute/nanny for his children, finally refusing to settle down with her and not even acknowledging Shura as his own daughter while continuing his womanising here and there.
    Assia did certainly not trust him to look after her daughter and as she became more and more isolated, she had nobody else to entrust her to. So may be, in a sort of twisted way, it was an act of love to take her with her, in death, so that neither of them could be any longer hurt or derided (Hughes’s family hated her) by the unfortunate circumstances they found themselves in.
    I am not saying that she was a saint, far from it as a matter of fact, but she still did not deserve Hughes’s treatment especially with regards to Shura. Sylvia was right when she said of Hughes that he “killed “ that which he did not want.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10 August, 2019 23:46

    Any news on the The Selected Writings of Assia Wevill? I would love to have a estimated date for release. I'm looking foward to read that book.

    ReplyDelete

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