On Thursday, 17 October 2019, I will be giving a talk on my editorial work on  The Letters of Sylvia Plath  at the Grand Central Branch of the New York Public Library. The library's address is: 135 East 46th Street New York, NY, 10017. The talk will start at 6 PM. It is free, however, you must RSVP . If you have time, please read an interview between me and Gregory Stall of the NYPL Grand Central location. Author photograph by Kathrine Smart, taken inside 3 Chalcot Square, London . Sorry I cropped you out of the photograph, Nick. All links accessed 7 and 14 August, and 10 September 2019.

The essay on Sylvia Plath by Linda Freedman that appears in Fiona Green’s edited collection Writing for The New Yorker: Critical Essays on an American Periodical (Edinburgh University Press, 2015), is entitled: "Sylvia Plath and 'The Blessed Glossy New Yorker '". On the surface, this is a brilliant title for an essay that considers a subject that should prove fascinating. Plath coveted just about everything about The New Yorker : the typeface, the cartoons, the quality of the writers it published,the content; even the sheen of the paper. However, Freedman's treatment of Plath and The New Yorker is wanting; the essay suffers from distinctive gaps and oversights which suggest a lack of familiarity with the subject. The initial disillusionment comes in Freedman’s second paragraph when she states: "even though her [Plath's] work appears more frequently in other periodicals such as the Ladies' Home Journal , Mademoiselle , and Seventeen " (118)....

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes were guests at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York, from 9 September-19 November 1959. They were recommended for invitation by Newton Arvin and Richard Eberhart. In the admission process, they were graded by their peers. Plath received grades of B (Richard Eberhart), A (J[ohn] C[heever]?), and a Strong B or B plus (Morton D Zabel). Hughes received grades of A (J[ohn] C[heever]?), B (Richard Eberhart), and Good B (Morton D Zabel). Did you know who the other guests and residents were at Yaddo at the same time as Plath and Hughes were there? There was a director's meeting from 25-27 September, which meant that the following people were there for a few short days under different conditions and expectations. In the list, following their names are their occupation, whether they were a director or a member, and which room(s) they were assigned: Newton Arvin (writer; Director, Dew); Robert Coates (writer; Member, Mt. View); Malcolm Cowley (writer; Direc...

The New York Public Library has a couple divisions that hold Sylvia Plath manuscripts and related materials. In the Manuscripts and Archives division is The New Yorker records, which holds correspondence to, from, and about Plath. The Berg Collection holds a varied assortment of Plath materials, from juvenilia to late works. This post will merely summarize the holdings, and but to learn more, either visit the library yourself (recommended) or please see " These Ghostly Archives 4: Looking for New England " by Gail Crowther and myself, published in Plath Profiles 5 (Summer 2012) (also recommended). New Yorker Records The bulk of material on Plath is in Series III, Editorial Correspondence, subseries 3.3 Fiction Correspondence, 1952-1980, for the following years; 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1977. In the scope and content note, it explains that poetry correspondence is included in the fiction correspondence file. There are also some Plath related ...

Sylvia Plath's story "The Shadow," written in 1959, recounts Sadie Shafer's leg biting incident from "the winter the war began" ( Johnny Panic , Harper & Row, 1979: 143). Plath's Unabridged Journals record that on 7 January 1959 she was "finished, almost" with the story (457). On 31 May she considered it - of the six most recent stories she had written - one of the top three (486). However, by 15 June 1959, Plath thought that "The Shadow" "reads might thin, mighty pale" (496). She failed to publish the story, sending it in on 1 September 1959, along with "The Wishing Box" and "The Daughters of Blossom Street" to London Magazine (which accepted only "The Daughters of Blossom Street" on 13 November 1959 and printed it in their May 1960 issue). There is little chance London Magazine was the only periodical to which Plath submitted this story. The Submissions List Plath maintained is now he...

I recently obtained the details of the Sylvia Plath related files held in the Yaddo Records (New York Public Library) . I wrote about this first in April, click here to see that posting . To recap, Plath and Hughes stayed at Yaddo from September - December 1959. It is here that Plath wrote many of the poems that completed her first volume of poetry, The Colossus . Yaddo is located in lovely Saratoga Springs, New York - 199 miles from Boston, 194 miles from New York City, New York, and 4,258 miles from North Pole, Alaska. The New York Public Library obtained these records in 1999. The main correspondents in the file are Sylvia Plath (and Ted Hughes) and Elizabeth Ames, the Executive Director of Yaddo, though there are others. All material dates from 1959. Below is a list of letters. 1. Elizabeth Ames to Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, typed, undated, 1 p. 2. Sylvia Plath to Elizabeth Ames, typed, 11 February 1959, 1 p. 3. Elizabeth Ames to Sylvia Plath, typed, 13 February 1959, 1 p. 4. Syl...

The New York Public Library holds the Yaddo Records, 1870-1980. The finding aid to the collection is online here . Materials relating to Plath and Hughes may be found in the following series: Series V: Yaddo Corporation Records, 1926-1980 A. Guest Files 2. 1940-1976 Box 276, Folder 2 I have a request out to the NYPL for more information as to the contents of Box 276, Folder 2. Will report back when I hear something!