The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, edited by Karen V. Kukil

I wonder how she feels about having her journals published completely. Perhaps she expected it all along, as they do seem very polished. Many of the thoughts from these journals went into her novel Bell Jar. In the start, she is very concerned with boys and sex. There are conflicting thoughts on a desire for a writing career and for raising a family. These thoughts continue on through later entries. There are also thoughts on suicide which provide prelude to her eventual death. The editors add a few comments, with the most valuable indicating gaps. She comes across as a social arts type.

Bell Jar

I read a biography of Plath before reading The Bell Jar. It is difficult to determine where real life ends and fiction begins. It feels the book is a "pure" autobiography. Names of others have been changed to allow her to put out her true feelings without regards to the actual facts. 

Bell Jar is the first person story of Ester Greenwood as you transitions from a happy girl turning into a sad woman. She worked hard in school and was able to get a great scholarship to college. By continuing to work hard in college, she got a highly coveted internship. However, once she got that, she realized this was not the life she wanted to live. However, she had no idea what life she did want to live. She tried dating. Nothing was meaningful. She held out a bit of hope for a childhood friend. Alas, she was dejected when she learned he had lost his virginity to a slutty waitress. She tried suicide. She ended up in a mental hospital. She later decided to lose her virginity in a rather meaningless way. She didn't enjoy it and hemorrhaged, necessitating a trip to the ER.  One of her friends that appeared to be doing better did commit suicide. 

Her life was a cautionary tale. One can appear to follow all the walls to make it through our educational institutions but be ill-prepared for the life afterwards. It is also an indictment of the quality and benefits of our mental health facilities. 

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

Red Comet is a long biography of Sylvia Plath. Coming into it, I was not expecting much. I had heard of Plath, but couldn't distinguish her from other poets. As I read the first bart of the book, I became enthralled. I could relate to her experiences, and could picture other people that were similarly driven. She had strong academic standards for herself, yet she was battling internal demons (including her father's early death.) She grew up in an academic environment, and found herself drawn to the intellectual life. She got some high powered magazine jobs, but was disappointed in the superficiality. She struggled with suicide, and spent time in a mental institution. I felt both respect and pitty for her and a strong desire to seek out her additional writings.

As the story of her life progressed into adulthood, my interest waned. Plath came across as somewhat cocky. No longer the young striver, she was the young adult that was manipulating others while she was being manipulated. She fell into the various foibles of young adulthood. She was still motivated to continue writing and was willing to work through rejections to get her works published. The relationship with Ted Hughes seemed like a teenage romance that she wanted to turn into a domestic life. It felt like she was struggled between the desire to be a mother while also carry on an independent intellectual life. Alas, Hughes was a serial philanderer. He did great in the "fun" department, but not so much for the "domesticated". (The book focusses on the "good part". Plath eventually committed suicide. Perhaps it was a problem with her medication that drove her to it. Or perhaps she thought she would live through it as she had done before. Regardless, she probably achieved much more fame in death than she did in life.

Would Plath have faded into obscurity had she not died at an early age? Perhaps she would have focussed more on motherhood and let her writing fall by the wayside. Or perhaps she had her best years writing ahead of her. Or maybe she would have spent all the time battling mental illness. We will not know.  The biography starts out strong, then fades near the end. Comet is an apt metaphor for the life portrayed.