Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath


Born
in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, The United States
October 27, 1932

Died
February 11, 1963

Genre

Influences


Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The book's protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is a bright, ambitious student at Smith College who begins to experience a mental breakdown while interning for a fashion magazine in New York. The plot parallels Plath's experience interning at Mademoiselle magazine and subsequent mental breakdown and suicide attempt. ...more

Average rating: 4.07 · 1,085,577 ratings · 59,869 reviews · 248 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Bell Jar

4.05 avg rating — 879,001 ratings — published 1963 — 1264 editions
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Ariel

4.20 avg rating — 75,686 ratings — published 1965 — 140 editions
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The Collected Poems

4.22 avg rating — 43,223 ratings — published 1981 — 63 editions
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The Unabridged Journals of ...

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4.23 avg rating — 21,566 ratings — published 2000 — 56 editions
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The Colossus and Other Poems

4.18 avg rating — 12,420 ratings — published 1960 — 161 editions
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Mary Ventura and the Ninth ...

3.98 avg rating — 10,791 ratings — published 2019 — 31 editions
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Ariel: The Restored Edition

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4.26 avg rating — 7,213 ratings — published 2004 — 20 editions
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Johnny Panic and the Bible ...

3.90 avg rating — 5,677 ratings — published 1977 — 16 editions
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Letters Home

4.22 avg rating — 2,907 ratings — published 1975 — 7 editions
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Selected Poems

4.07 avg rating — 2,978 ratings — published 1981 — 23 editions
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More books by Sylvia Plath…
Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vo... The Letters of Sylvia Plath...
(2 books)
by
4.44 avg rating — 603 ratings

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Quotes by Sylvia Plath  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.”
Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Polls

December 2014 New School Classics Poll

Which book would you like to read for our December 2014 New School Classics group read?

1963, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, 288 pages
 
  33 votes, 20.9%

1930, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, 267 pages
 
  18 votes, 11.4%

 
  16 votes, 10.1%

 
  15 votes, 9.5%

1981, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, 647 pages
 
  14 votes, 8.9%

 
  13 votes, 8.2%

1932, Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, 233 pages
 
  12 votes, 7.6%

 
  12 votes, 7.6%

1918, My Ántonia by Willa Cather, 232 pages
 
  11 votes, 7.0%

 
  10 votes, 6.3%

1940, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, 320 pages
 
  2 votes, 1.3%

1961, A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, 623 pages
 
  1 vote, 0.6%

1992, Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, 630 pages
 
  1 vote, 0.6%

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