The Making of Sylvia Plath

by Carl Rollyson

Since her death, Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) has become an endless source of fascination for a wide audience ranging from readers of The Bell Jar, her semiautobiographical novel, to her groundbreaking poetry as exemplified by Ariel. Beyond her writing, however, interest in Plath has also been fueled in part by the tragic nature of her death. As a result, a steady stream of biographies of Plath have appeared over the last fifty-five years which mainly focus on her death or contain projections of an array of points of view about the writer.

Until now, little sustained attention has been paid to the influences on Plath’s life and work. What movies did she watch? Which books did she read? How did media shape her worldview? In this meticulously researched biography, Carl Rollyson explores the intricate web of literature, cinema, spirituality, psychology, and popular culture that profoundly influenced Plath's life and writing. At the heart of this biography is a compelling exploration of William Sheldon’s seminal work, Psychology and the Promethean Will, which Plath devoured in her quest for self-discovery and understanding. Through Plath’s intense study of this work, readers gain unprecedented access to Plath's innermost thoughts, her therapeutic treatments, and the overarching worldview that fueled her creative genius.

Through Sheldon as well as Plath’s other influences, Rollyson offers a captivating survey of the symbiotic relationship between an artist and the world around her and offers readers new insights into the enigmatic mind of one of most important writers of the twentieth century.

Genres: Biography

352 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2024

About the author

Carl Rollyson, Professor of Journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York, has published more than forty books ranging in subject matter from biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, and Jill Craigie to studies of American culture, genealogy, children’s biography, film, and literary criticism. He has authored more than 500 articles on American and European literature and history. His work has been reviewed in newspapers such as The New York Times and the London Sunday Telegraph and in journals such as American Literature and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. For four years (2003-2007) he wrote a weekly column, "On Biography," for The New York Sun and was President of the Rebecca West Society (2003-2007). His play, THAT WOMAN: REBECCA WEST REMEMBERS, has been produced at Theatresource in New York City. Rollyson is currently researching a biography of Amy Lowell (awarded a "We the People" NEH grant). "Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews, a biography of Dana Andrews is forthcoming in September from University Press of Mississippi. His biography, "American Isis: The Life and Death of Sylvia Plath" will be published in February 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of her death. His reviews of biography appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Kansas City Star, and The New Criterion. He is currently advisory editor for the Hollywood Legends series published by the University Press of Mississippi. He welcomes queries from those interested in contributing to the series. Read his column, "Biographology," that appears every two weeks at bibliobuffet.com

Reviews

[Miranda Vilar Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stimulating analysis of the cultural and psychological forces that formed Plath. The conclusions drawn from Sheldon's Psychology and the Promethean Will are astute. Plath comes across as a relatable figure, especially in earlier sections about her romances. Entertaining and lively, this is an intriguing work of scholarship.

[Adriana Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a persistent almost mythic idea that genius and suffering are inseparable. Perhaps it is because the mind that sees more, feels more, and comprehends more is also the mind that cannot rest. Geniuses perceive patterns and truths that elude others, they inhabit the world with an awareness so acute that every joy is shaded by anxiety and every beauty carries its shadow. A brilliant mind does not simply observe life; it absorbs it, feels it in full, reflects upon it with merciless clarity. That reflection can illuminate the world but can also magnify pain.
This is an impeccable work about a brilliant mind. Sylvia was brilliant, self-aware, and capable of analyzing her emotions with surgical precision, yet that insight didn't save her.
In poems like Tulips or Elm, she writes with chilling clarity about her pain, but the clarity doesn't bring relief; it seems to only sharpen her awareness of being trapped inside herself.

[tia lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars —

less analysis about the media / movies / books she interacted with and how they shaped her than i went in hoping / expecting , still

hard to write something fresh about someone so known + loved + discussed + picked apart and i do think that was managed well here

was able to get past the myth to show plath, the person . more than anything she was deeply deeply human and sometimes i think that gets lost in the discussion

& the palpable disdain for hughes helps . lol

[Nanisia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Bell Jar. Sylvia Plath’s writing is raw and powerful, and I felt deeply connected to the emotions and struggles she described. It’s one of those books that lingers with you.