Two copies of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

I bought recently two editions of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar that I did not have. They have something in common: relatively hideous covers!

The first one here is the 2015 Arcturus edition. And what chafes me about this one is on the back, there is a "quote", presumably from the book: "If you expect nothing from anybody, you're never disappointed". However, anyone really familiar with the novel will know it is a misquote. Esther's actual words are: "If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed." These words appear in Chapter Five and funnily enough---sloppily enough---it appears correct in the text block. So, shame on the person who wrote the text for the back of the book. The error is repeated in th3 2018 edition.

The second cover here is an edition published by Robin Books, an imprint of Adarsh Books, which hails from New Dehli, India. I have no clue at all what the heck is going on with the cover, but it was a book I've secretly, lustily wanted for years and years. And finally found a copy. This edition includes an introduction by Saransh Sharma.

Both of these acquisitions were made possible by generous "tips" from readers of this blog and I am very grateful to them. Ugly though the covers are, I was drawn to them as they reflect the packaging f Sylvia Plath, which is a fascinating subject. Tracy Brain discusses this subject in her The Other Sylvia Plath. Anyway...Thank you!

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Famous Quotes of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath inspires us all in various and wonderful ways. She is in many respects a form of comfort to us, which is something that Esther Greenwood expresses in The Bell Jar , about a bath: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: 'I'll go take a hot bath.'" We read and remember Sylvia Plath for many reasons, many of them deeply personal and private. But we commemorate her, too, in very public ways, as Anna of the long-standing Tumblr Loving Sylvia Plath , has been tracking, in the form of tattoos. (Anna's on Instagram with it too, as SylviaPlathInk .) The above bath quote is among Sylvia Plath's most famous. It often appears here and there and it is stripped of its context. But I think most people will know it is from her nove...

Sylvia Plath's Gravestone Vandalized

The following news story appeared online this morning: HEPTONSTALL, ENGLAND (APFS) - The small village of Heptonstall is once again in the news because of the grave site of American poet Sylvia Plath. The headstone controversy rose to a fever pitch in 1989 when Plath's grave was left unmarked for a long period of time after vandals repeatedly chiseled her married surname Hughes off the stone marker. Author Nick Hornby commented, "I like Plath, but the controversy reaching its fever pitch in the 80s had nothing to do with my book title choice." Today, however, it was discovered that the grave was defaced but in quite an unlikely fashion. This time, Plath's headstone has had slashed-off her maiden name "Plath," so the stone now reads "Sylvia Hughes." A statement posted on Twitter from @masculinistsfortedhughes (Masculinists for Ted Hughes) has claimed responsibility saying that, "We did this because as Ted Hughes' first wife, Sylvia de...

Sylvia Plath and McLean Hospital

In August when I was in the final preparations for the tour of Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar sites, I found that I had long been mistaken about a couple of things. This is my coming clean. It was my intention in this blog post to discuss just McLean, but I found myself deeply immersed in other aspects of Plath's recovery. The other thing I was mistaken about will be discussed in a separate blog post. I suppose I need to state from the outset that I am drawing conclusions from Plath's actual experiences from what she wrote in The Bell Jar and vice versa, taking information from the novel that is presently unconfirmed or murky and applying it to Plath's biography. There is enough in The Bell Jar , I think, based on real life to make these decisions. At the same time, I like to think that I know enough to distinguish where things are authentic and where details were clearly made up, slightly fudged, or out of chronological order. McLean Hospital was Plath's third and last...

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