The Other Sylvia Plath

by Tracy Brain

Despite being widely studied on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses the writing of Sylvia Plath has been relatively neglected in relation to the attention given to her life and what drove her to suicide. Tracy Brain aims to remedy this by introducing completely new approaches to Plath's writing, taking the studies away from the familiar concentration to reveal that Plath as a writer was concerned with a much wider range of important cultural and political topics. Unlike most of the existing literary criticism it shifts the focus away from biographical readings and encompasses the full range of Plath's poetry, prose, journals and letters using a variety of critical methods.

Genres: Literary Criticism

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Tracy Brain, Ph.D., Bath Spa University
Reader in English and Senior Lecturer: English

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the chapter on Plath's Environmentalism to be especially helpful and engaging.

[Calvyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent book, noting that Sylvia Plath's poems, and novels, typically cast as primarily (and only?) reflecting events in her life, her losses, her mental health struggles, ought to be read as reflecting her interests: environmental; women's issues; the competing demands on women, to be a wife or to lead a satisfying life.

racy Brain also notes that Plath's poetry, and that of Ted Hughes, may often be understood as conversations between the two, over time.

[Gary Leising · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first and final chapters should be essential reading for anyone who studies Plath’s work, as they helpfully situate biographical readings as less important ways to understand Plath (and Hughes) than examining the work as, primarily, art.