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Last Night's Sylvia Plath event with Heather Clark

Last night I was privileged to have a conversation with Heather Clark, author of the imminently published (in the US) Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath hosted by Washington D.C. independent bookstore Politics and Prose. 

The event was recorded and broadcast live on YouTube and is available now for consumption. Hope that you enjoy the hour long program. I really lovely every moment of it. I did not have the chance (or concentration ability) to see the full list of attendees but thank you to all who attended, and, as well, to all who watch it now.

Buy the book from Politics and Prose!

One of the topics we discussed was the Harriet Rosenstein archive which is held by Emory University. You may remember in January and February this blog featured a lot of posts about the recently opened collection. Between then and maybe the summer, sometime, Emory was digitizing the audio cassette tapes that came with it. Due to the times, with a lot of places being closed or with limited abilities, Emory is offering online access to these recordings. Contact the Rose Library for access instructions. 

The medium of the cassette tape is fairly stable, but the quality of the recordings takes some getting used to what with muffled voices, background noises, dogs, tea cups, cars honking, etc. In fact the recording of Al Alvarez appears to be literally have been conducted in the flight path of Heathrow Airport. One of the more amazing things about this is hearing the younger voices of Plath's friends and acquaintances like Elizabeth Sigmund, Winifred Davies, Nancy Axworthy, Lorna and David Secker-Walker, Elinor Klein, Perry Norton, Marcia Stern, and many, many more.

I have listened to most of the tapes at this point and have sent a list of corrections---which I am sure is annoying---to Emory that I hope they make to the finding aid. There are about 76 hours or so.

If you do take advantage of this opportunity, I recommend considering sending Emory's Rose Library a financial donation of appreciation.  

All links accessed 24 October 2020.


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  1. stephen10 November, 2020 15:23

    That discussion was quite fantastic.I would have ask does Frieda Hughes ever participate in requests for interviews? Or pass information to scholars...to be very broad.
    Stephen Clifton

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