Publication Day for Breaking Down Plath by Patricia Grisafi

Congratulations to Patricia Grisafi are in order as today her first book Breaking Down Plath is published by Jossey-Bass. Trish was kind enough to ask me to write a Foreword to the book which I happily and enthusiastically did.

The book is reasonably priced at $9.99, in paperback, and comes in at 128 pages. The ISBN is 978-1119782384.

About the book:

In Breaking Down Plath, writer and educator Dr. Patricia Grisafi delivers a refreshing glimpse into the life and work of an iconic American poet. The author offers unique insights into how interest in Sylvia Plath developed, why her life and art matter, how the story of her life has been told, and what we still need to discover about her.

Breaking Down Plath includes a thematic tour through Sylvia Plath’s short fiction, journals, letters, and poetry, as well as an overview of her critics and the role her work plays in today’s popular culture.

Perfect for middle and high school students studying Plath’s work, Breaking Down Plath is also an indispensable resource for educators, parents, and anyone interested in the work and life of Sylvia Plath.

Praise:

"A dynamic guide through Sylvia Plath’s life, fiction, and poetry. Grisafi’s fresh take on Plathian themes like politics, mental health, and sexual violence prove time and time again that Sylvia Plath is not only relevant, but necessary." —Elizabeth Winder

From the Foreword:

"Patricia Grisafi's Breaking Down Plath is up to the moment. It blends historical and contemporary readings of Sylvia Plath—the major themes in her poetry and important aspects of her prose—in such a way that you, her newest readers, will understand and relate to the mid-twentieth century's most famous writer." —Peter K. Steinberg

About the author:

Patricia Grisafi, PhD, is a freelance writer, editor, and educator based in New York City. Aside from teaching Plath’s work, she is the author of numerous essays on Plath and has presented research at academic conferences such as the 75th Annual Sylvia Plath Symposium.

Buy the book on Amazon.com today!

All links accessed 2 February 2022.

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

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 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

Search This Blog