Mad Girl Love Song Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted eBook Andrew Wilson
Download As PDF : Mad Girl Love Song Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted eBook Andrew Wilson 
On 25 February 1956, twenty-three-year-old Sylvia Plath walked into a party and immediately spotted Ted Hughes. This encounter - now one of the most famous in all literary history - was recorded by Plath in her journal, where she described Hughes as a 'big, dark, hunky boy'. Sylvia viewed Ted as something of a colossus, and to this day his enormous shadow has obscured Plath's life and work. The sensational aspects of the Plath-Hughes relationship have dominated the cultural landscape to such an extent that their story has taken on the resonance of a modern myth.
After Plath's suicide in February 1963, Hughes became Plath's literary executor, the guardian of her writings, and, in effect responsible for how she was perceived. But Hughes did not think much of Plath's prose writing, viewing it as a 'waste product' of her 'false self', and his determination to market her later poetry - poetry written after she had begun her relationship with him - as the crowning glory of her career, has meant that her other earlier work has been marginalised.
Before she met Ted, Plath had lived a complex, creative and disturbing life. Her father had died when she was only eight, she had gone out with literally hundreds of men, had been unofficially engaged, had tried to commit suicide and had written over 200 poems. Mad Girl's Love Songwill trace through these early years the sources of her mental instabilities and will examine how a range of personal, economic and societal factors - the real disquieting muses - conspired against her.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with friends and lovers who have never spoken openly about Plath before and using previously unavailable archives and papers, this is the first book to focus on the early life of the twentieth century's most popular and enduring female poet. Mad Girl's Love Songreclaims Sylvia Plath from the tangle of emotions associated with her relationship with Ted Hughes and reveals the origins of her unsettled and unsettling voice, a voice that, fifty years after her death, still has the power to haunt and disturb.
Mad Girl Love Song Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted eBook Andrew Wilson
This is a very satisfying book. I often coveted a Sylvia Plath biography that covered the time before she ever met Ted Hughes. Plath's childhood and college years, to me, are the most interesting parts of her life. There is new material included, which was refreshing.Plath's mother, Aurelia, has not been given enough credit or praise. She was a very savvy woman, who only wanted her children to succeed. Bravo to Aurelia for keeping her daughter's memory alive well after her death. Aurelia saved every scrap of material Plath wrote, keeping even grocery lists. She thought her daughter special and precious, and she savored everything her daughter did.
I also appreciate the fact that Andrew Wilson did not judge, or appear apathetic toward Plath. All his conclusions appeared sensible. I also want to applaud Andrew Wilson for being able to produce negative aspects of Plath's life in a way that did not condemn, and his explanations were more reasonable than emotional.
In many ways, Plath was a normal young woman - at times insecure, at times confused, at times fascinated with sex. It was clear that Plath was a determined, goal-orientated individual, who didn't have a malicious bone in her body, and though occasionally her emotions swept her away, it was as if she were at another mercy's pull. She had a good heart. She had good intentions. She was well-liked, and she liked her friends. She felt guilty because of her mother's sacrifices, and it is very strange that they never seemed to quarrel - Aurelia was always dominated by her daughter.
Plath also struggled financially - she was desperately poor. She pinched her pennies, and she didn't let poverty stop her from having good experiences.
Andrew Wilson started anew. Instead of relying on old material, he started a fresh correspondence with Plath's friends and huge kudos to him for finding the enigmatic Richard Sassoon. This book makes it appear that Hughes was a choice rather than the love of Plath's life, as he was forgotten after they met (but Hughes was besotted). After being rejected by Sassoon, Plath made a decision to concentrate on Hughes.
No matter the biographies and critics that attempt to destroy her, dissect her, or explain her, the fact is that Plath is a genius. Her sheer life force was breathtaking despite setbacks, mental illness, poverty and heartbreak.
A very engaging read.
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Mad Girl Love Song Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted eBook Andrew Wilson Reviews
There is new info' in this book about a great, tragic poet. I like that it focuses on Plath's life before she met Ted Hughes. Most people interviewed say she was a joyful, happy, brilliant young woman---not a person fated to suicide.
Intiruguing account of the troubled development and background of a major 20th century american poet.
Andrew Wilson has written a thoroughly researched book on Sylvia Plath's early years, and has also drawn much-needed attention to her early poems. I read Bell Jar and Ariel, and this work did make a lot of the inner turmoil of this poet much clearer. It makes a re-read of her poems fascinating but also a little voyeuristic, I admit I was a little uncomfortable with how deeply we have mined her personal life for every detail.
It does seem that Plath *wanted* people to know about her personal life, apparently writing her diary with the expectation that it would be read. So in a way she invited the crowd into her parlor, but I still wonder. While these details about her do give us a perspective on her poetry that she may have wanted, I think in some ways it also makes her work less beautiful - you don't need to know the poet to treasure the work. A bit of mystery disappears with it, and Plath was nothing if not a deeply flawed, confused person who was seemingly not easy to like. Andrew Wilson has nonetheless done a wonderful job, and written a great, hard to put down book.
What can I say, there is just not enough of Sylvia Plath in the world.
Plath was the most extreme, deeply and harshly honest writer that I have ever read. Her words are raw and cut deep. If you haven't read her poems, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to them. Your life will be much better having read them.
I'm a fan of both poetry and biography. I must admit that I wondered how it would be possible to find anything new to write about Sylvia Plath. After all, there are several biographies on this woman, as well as her own journals. In addition, "The Bell Jar" is based on her well known breakdown and her poems draw on her life. I was very pleased to find out that the author, Andrew Wilson, managed to access new sources. He tracked down Richard Sassoon, who had remained reclusive and hidden until this point. I was thrilled to find that Eddie Cohen, Plath's pen pal was prominent in this biography. Eddie has always reminded me of the pen pals of my youth; before the age of texting and when letters were carefully thought out things. His insights into her personality are revealing and honest. Andrew Wilson has also spoken to one of her boyfriends who states that Plath had issues prior to the oft reported breakdown of the "Mademoiselle" summer she tried to cut her throat when she was fairly young. It was not a serious attempt, but this gives credence to a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. As I read this book, which focuses on her early years, Plath is revealed as a woman who, despite her extreme intelligence, is desperate to have male attention to define herself. However, at the same time, she fears that marriage and children will limit her creative drive. I find it hard to see her as the same person that wrote poems such as "Munich Mannequins." It's almost as though this younger version of herself were a different person. In the interviews, some people state that they felt that she wore a mask; that she was always acting. Was this to please her mother who expected so much? Was it because she was a perfectionist? This book comes closest to answering those questions of all that I have read.
Some may argue that this book casts Sylvia in a rather negative light, but I found it an interesting new testament to the wonder that was Sylvia Plath pre-Ted Hughes. Andrew Wilson makes an interesting argument regarding Sylvia's rejection from a summer writing course at Harvard, which we now know remains one of the factors leading to her crack up in the summer of 1953.
This is a very satisfying book. I often coveted a Sylvia Plath biography that covered the time before she ever met Ted Hughes. Plath's childhood and college years, to me, are the most interesting parts of her life. There is new material included, which was refreshing.
Plath's mother, Aurelia, has not been given enough credit or praise. She was a very savvy woman, who only wanted her children to succeed. Bravo to Aurelia for keeping her daughter's memory alive well after her death. Aurelia saved every scrap of material Plath wrote, keeping even grocery lists. She thought her daughter special and precious, and she savored everything her daughter did.
I also appreciate the fact that Andrew Wilson did not judge, or appear apathetic toward Plath. All his conclusions appeared sensible. I also want to applaud Andrew Wilson for being able to produce negative aspects of Plath's life in a way that did not condemn, and his explanations were more reasonable than emotional.
In many ways, Plath was a normal young woman - at times insecure, at times confused, at times fascinated with sex. It was clear that Plath was a determined, goal-orientated individual, who didn't have a malicious bone in her body, and though occasionally her emotions swept her away, it was as if she were at another mercy's pull. She had a good heart. She had good intentions. She was well-liked, and she liked her friends. She felt guilty because of her mother's sacrifices, and it is very strange that they never seemed to quarrel - Aurelia was always dominated by her daughter.
Plath also struggled financially - she was desperately poor. She pinched her pennies, and she didn't let poverty stop her from having good experiences.
Andrew Wilson started anew. Instead of relying on old material, he started a fresh correspondence with Plath's friends and huge kudos to him for finding the enigmatic Richard Sassoon. This book makes it appear that Hughes was a choice rather than the love of Plath's life, as he was forgotten after they met (but Hughes was besotted). After being rejected by Sassoon, Plath made a decision to concentrate on Hughes.
No matter the biographies and critics that attempt to destroy her, dissect her, or explain her, the fact is that Plath is a genius. Her sheer life force was breathtaking despite setbacks, mental illness, poverty and heartbreak.
A very engaging read.
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