The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: Transcripts from the Original Manuscripts at Smith College

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aPlath, Sylvia. |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79032880 |vDiaries. |0https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99001602

Of course, as with all journals, Plath's can only be read through the gaps between them. It is true that people most often write journal entries as a form of cathartic release when they're upset, and Plath says as much herself. Thus, to see her entries as a wholly accurate picture of her temperament would be rather misleading. The complete, uncensored journals of Sylvia Plath—essential reading for anyone who has been moved and fascinated by the poet’s life and work. i44723623 |b1030002442727 |dcml |g- |m |h6 |x0 |t0 |i8 |j18 |k050509 |n09-10-2019 18:22 |o- |aPS3566 .L27 Z469 2000 I spent a lot of time in between these dips and dives pondering how they came to be. I feel strongly that is how Plath’s mind worked and I can relate on some level to it. Some days I wake in a get shit done mood and others I am more focused on just being, which means drifting from thought to thought and randomly focusing on minute details of inconsequential things. I think this is truly why I was so bothered by this book and why I had to work slowly through her journal entries. To tear yourself down for not meeting goals is one thing, to see another person doing it to themselves is quite another. Sylvia Plath (1932 –1963) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. Plath published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus(1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar(1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.A genuine literary event.... Plath's journals contain marvels of discovery." — The New York Times Book Review Unfortunately, some of her journals went missing or were destroyed. But the journals that remain allow a close reader to see some of her ideas before they appeared in print. They give a sense to how she may have approached her work. Jesus. My college diaries don't sound like that, let me tell you. But of course, Sylvia Plath has always operated on another level entirely, and her journals prove nothing else, it's that Plath was in a category by herself.

The first half of this book is absolutely remarkable. Especially for being just a journal. After she married, however, I think her tone changed. Her journaling was permanently altered. She made herself so little when compared to the “great Ted Hughes”. She refrained from “nagging” him, but he could nag her, because of his “superior seat”. Out of the pair he was always the better, bigger and smarter in her eyes. Her feminist words of before were somehow not put into action, and she became rather submissive and accepting too much of his behavior and betrayals. I understand her position and era of misogyny, but after being so entirely compelled by this woman’s words, I can’t lie here and say her submission didn’t bother me. I decided I was going to read this for two reasons: Sylvia Plath intrigued me; and I need to write better journal entries. A genuine literary event…. Plath’s journals contain marvels of discovery.” — The New York Times Book ReviewI lapped up Plath’s vivid, colorful, emotive prose. Her descriptions overflow with perfectly chosen details. I was looking for beautiful, lyrical prose and I got it. Of course, not in every line. Plath’s prose goes up and down, along with her moods. Plath was diagnosed as being clinically depressed for much of her adult life. She underwent electroconvulsive therapy and consulted psychiatrists. All along the way, I sensed in her writing her emotional state. Though Plath's sensibility is dark, and though she twists nature to her own effect, like so many other poets and fiction writers, there is something uncommon about her work and the strength and momentum that builds poem-to-poem. There is a forcefulness of the persona speaking through her work, and then too, there is her strong inclination toward wholeness and harmony; although, many only see the jaded and sardonic undercurrents.

A major literary event--the complete, uncensored journals of Sylvia Plath, published in their entirety for the first time. Our mission is to foster a universal passion for reading by partnering with authors to help create stories and communicate ideas that inform, entertain, and inspire.Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. The book is by no means a typical autobiography. The reader must be aware of the events of Sylvia Plath’s life, before reading this book! The title of the book indicates that one is given her unabridged journal entries, and that is exactly what one is given, nothing more! Added editorial information is minimal.

It is because of this confusion between the two, that the Unabridged Journals bear the burden of illumination. They are a significant contribution to our understanding of Plath and Plath scholarship. I don’t believe in God as a kind father in the sky. I don’t believe that the meek will inherit the earth. The meek get ignored and trampled. They decompose in the bloody soil of war, of business, of art, and they rot into the warm ground under the spring rains.” Her conception of her own femininity and wholeness sees a subtle shift in later years, post her affair with Richard Sassoon and her marrying Ted Hughes, but she continues to assert her talents while balancing her role as a wife. Plath's veritable adoration for Hughes soaks through much of her writing in the later half, and it is perhaps because of her finally having the kind of companionship she craves that her entries in this period shift from being exercises in expression to concerned mostly with description. Even so, there remains in her a loneliness that she can not share, one she often ascribes to her inability to tap her talents to the fullest.Like Shakespeare’s Ariel, the spirit of Plath’s work appears to be driven toward an understanding of enslavement and the necessity of freedom. The work speaks to the alchemy of person-hood and art formation. For Plath, this was a quest for liberation, and a means to end her suffering. A literary event… The book has a raw immediacy that will only add to Plath’s iconic reputation.”— Harpers & Queens There is a dichotomy between the mechanical and mathematical aspects of poetry and something outside reason. Plath merges form with associative lyricism until the scaffolding of her old style falls away and we are left with Ariel. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-10-11 21:05:52 Associated-names Kukil, Karen V Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40257801 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdiscabled External-identifier An exact and complete transcription of the journals kept by Sylvia Plath over the last twelve years of her life. Sylvia Plath kept a record of her life from the age of eleven until her death at thirty. The journals are characterized by the vigorous immediacy with which she records her inner thoughts and feelings and the intricacies of her daily life. Apart from being a key source for her early writing, they give us an intimate portrait of the writer who was to produce in the last seven months of her life the extraordinary poems which have secured her reputation as one of the greatest of twentieth century poets.