The Alvarez folder in the Rosenstein papers left me feeling practically speechless. Hence, a shorter post today as I consider what he wrote and so that you can, too.
On 20 December 1973, Rosenstein sent Alvarez a "simple" poem. It was something about which they discussed at some point in time and I presume it was by Plath. Rosenstein writes, "it had been pinned above Sylvia's work table in Devon". This letter mentions other things, too. Such as missing pages from a BBC novel talk. (On the surface this sounds like what was published as "A Comparison".)
A little over a month later, on 25 January 1974, Alvarez wrote back returning the "simple" poem. He calls it "fascinating" even though "you can feel her poise wobbling, the enemies closing in, the truth receeding [sic.]. It was all she had left to hang on to."
Later in the year they were discussing other things via letter including certain "facts" heard from Ted Hughes about Plath's final days and actions. Alvarez wrote the following:
On 20 December 1973, Rosenstein sent Alvarez a "simple" poem. It was something about which they discussed at some point in time and I presume it was by Plath. Rosenstein writes, "it had been pinned above Sylvia's work table in Devon". This letter mentions other things, too. Such as missing pages from a BBC novel talk. (On the surface this sounds like what was published as "A Comparison".)
A little over a month later, on 25 January 1974, Alvarez wrote back returning the "simple" poem. He calls it "fascinating" even though "you can feel her poise wobbling, the enemies closing in, the truth receeding [sic.]. It was all she had left to hang on to."
Later in the year they were discussing other things via letter including certain "facts" heard from Ted Hughes about Plath's final days and actions. Alvarez wrote the following:
The thing to remember is that the whole affair has become like the Russian version of history: facts can simply be obliterated – so can poems – by the official custodians and nobody, but nobody, can do anything about it. That's one of the reasons why I wrote my memoir: to publish something about the poor girl that hadn't been censored and sanitised beforehand by the family.
"facts can be obliterated--so can poems--"
ReplyDeleteAck! This is ominous. Thank you for this series of posts. What a treasure trove.
Alvarez told me that Ted and Olwyn a Soviet notion of history.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeletePretty much as we have always thought. Such as the struggle over "Bitter Fame" and Ted admitting he destroyed journals.
ReplyDelete