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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
this is the first biography i have ever actually read and i am so pleasantly surprised with just how much i enjoyed it
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
moral of the story: when it comes to Sylvia and Ted and everyone who tried to tell their story, it’s a long series of he said’s versus she said’s, and you believe what you want to believe!
The New York Times had an article yesterday where Kathleen Hanna (founder of the the Riot Grrrl music movement)is archiving her materials at New York University. She's my age, 44. Like many writers, I've had these silly ideas that my letters, journals, process, etc., might matter, and I've come to the realization that what's really going to happen is that some relative or hired cleaner will toss a ton of paper into the recycling bin until my life gets to about the mid-90s. The paper trail halts. Someone will then look at a chip, feel guilty for a second, and then dispose of it.
Part of the romance of The Silent Woman, is reliving these writers who had some idea that who they married or had coffee with was future Norton Anthology material. Plath died before Ariel made her an icon (and her death might have been the publicity happening that secured this canonization) But Ted Hughes made regular trips to archive himself. Can't you just imagine the letters all bound by twine?
But I digress. Malcolm wrote this book in the early nineties, right before digital communication took over. Hughes was still alive, as was his aggressively protective sister Olwyn, whose life became managing the Plath estate and legacy of her brother's image.
Was Plath a narcissistic, manipulative woman with Borderline personality disorder? Was Hughes an egomaniacal bully who bailed on his wife and two kids for a younger woman?
Malcolm's point is that while certain facts are in place, the meaning of the facts is a red hot mess. She blasts out the traditional beginning, middle, end biography structure. She never really tells the "story" of Plath's life at all. Instead she questions the ability to write biography by showing the absurdity of the omniscient, third person POV. The story instead becomes that of Malcolm trying to write biography and the problems with the form. She details her encounters with Olwyn Hughes, with other biographers, the fallouts authors and subjects suffered from publications. She even includes correspondence that happened during her process.
As someone who has had to deal with the Laura Ingalls Wilder "estate" it was interesting following another writer trying to unwind the irrevocably knotted and fiercely protected. Also, I enjoyed how Malcolm, a woman of the same era of Plath, examined what it was to be a woman of the repressed fifties pretending she could simply will the chains away, only to find self-doubt haunting at every corner.
Part of the romance of The Silent Woman, is reliving these writers who had some idea that who they married or had coffee with was future Norton Anthology material. Plath died before Ariel made her an icon (and her death might have been the publicity happening that secured this canonization) But Ted Hughes made regular trips to archive himself. Can't you just imagine the letters all bound by twine?
But I digress. Malcolm wrote this book in the early nineties, right before digital communication took over. Hughes was still alive, as was his aggressively protective sister Olwyn, whose life became managing the Plath estate and legacy of her brother's image.
Was Plath a narcissistic, manipulative woman with Borderline personality disorder? Was Hughes an egomaniacal bully who bailed on his wife and two kids for a younger woman?
Malcolm's point is that while certain facts are in place, the meaning of the facts is a red hot mess. She blasts out the traditional beginning, middle, end biography structure. She never really tells the "story" of Plath's life at all. Instead she questions the ability to write biography by showing the absurdity of the omniscient, third person POV. The story instead becomes that of Malcolm trying to write biography and the problems with the form. She details her encounters with Olwyn Hughes, with other biographers, the fallouts authors and subjects suffered from publications. She even includes correspondence that happened during her process.
As someone who has had to deal with the Laura Ingalls Wilder "estate" it was interesting following another writer trying to unwind the irrevocably knotted and fiercely protected. Also, I enjoyed how Malcolm, a woman of the same era of Plath, examined what it was to be a woman of the repressed fifties pretending she could simply will the chains away, only to find self-doubt haunting at every corner.
This is not just a reflection on the complexity of writing and reading biography- although you will be drawn into it whether or not you care about SP- but an interesting examination of the real mess that piecing together the relationship between Sylvia and Ted has been and continues to be.
I did find myself trusting Malcolm, even though she remains on the side of Olwyn and Ted- rather than vilify Sylvia and elevate Ted, she seemed to present her objective evidence on the situation, using the triumphs and errors of other SP biographies as an example. I say "seem" because the entire lesson of this book is that biography is complicated. The line between fiction and nonfiction is very unclear, and it can make or break the reputation of those depicted.
My opinions on Ted after this? I still don't like him. He cheated on his wife and ran off with another woman, period, and refused until his death to write his own account of the events. I believe he made a mistake in this respect; the result of his refusal to be candid about the situation was the invention of even worse circumstances than probably occurred by many angry, confused people who have been moved by Sylvia's work and wanted answers. He believed that these were private, family matters and that anything speculated about him or Sylvia would scar their living children; he could not come to grips with Sylvia's fame, with the obvious fact that she wanted attention, she wanted her insides on the outside.
After reading this book, it has become more apparent to me that living with someone like Sylvia must have been very difficult; she struggled constantly with mental illness, had a flair for melodrama, and experienced torrential moods. Malcolm also speculates that her behavior was a consequence of the expectations placed upon women growing up in the 1950's- but ultimately, Sylvia is depicted as (probably rightfully) unstable.
However, the most difficult person in this situation seemed to be Olwyn Hughes, Ted's sister and the manager of the Plath estate until sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. Olwyn dealt with all the biographers clamoring for permission to quote from poetry and letters. It's easy to see how quickly she could become irritated with those who had ill intentions, but she's depicted in this biography as a total bitch. In fact, I think it might be possible for me to say that she is a total bitch, because all that convinced me of her character was direct quotation. She looked down upon and was suspicious of everyone, calling those who defended Sylvia "libbers" and using her power to make publication difficult for others in order to force her perspective into others' biographies of Sylvia. In addition, she intensely disliked Sylvia. Overall, even though Malcolm professes to be on team Hughes, I came out the other side of this book still feeling like they are ridiculous people with something to hide.
Read it- you'll finish it in two sittings, and you'll always think about it when you read a biography.
Even though Malcolm professes that she is on the side of
I did find myself trusting Malcolm, even though she remains on the side of Olwyn and Ted- rather than vilify Sylvia and elevate Ted, she seemed to present her objective evidence on the situation, using the triumphs and errors of other SP biographies as an example. I say "seem" because the entire lesson of this book is that biography is complicated. The line between fiction and nonfiction is very unclear, and it can make or break the reputation of those depicted.
My opinions on Ted after this? I still don't like him. He cheated on his wife and ran off with another woman, period, and refused until his death to write his own account of the events. I believe he made a mistake in this respect; the result of his refusal to be candid about the situation was the invention of even worse circumstances than probably occurred by many angry, confused people who have been moved by Sylvia's work and wanted answers. He believed that these were private, family matters and that anything speculated about him or Sylvia would scar their living children; he could not come to grips with Sylvia's fame, with the obvious fact that she wanted attention, she wanted her insides on the outside.
After reading this book, it has become more apparent to me that living with someone like Sylvia must have been very difficult; she struggled constantly with mental illness, had a flair for melodrama, and experienced torrential moods. Malcolm also speculates that her behavior was a consequence of the expectations placed upon women growing up in the 1950's- but ultimately, Sylvia is depicted as (probably rightfully) unstable.
However, the most difficult person in this situation seemed to be Olwyn Hughes, Ted's sister and the manager of the Plath estate until sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. Olwyn dealt with all the biographers clamoring for permission to quote from poetry and letters. It's easy to see how quickly she could become irritated with those who had ill intentions, but she's depicted in this biography as a total bitch. In fact, I think it might be possible for me to say that she is a total bitch, because all that convinced me of her character was direct quotation. She looked down upon and was suspicious of everyone, calling those who defended Sylvia "libbers" and using her power to make publication difficult for others in order to force her perspective into others' biographies of Sylvia. In addition, she intensely disliked Sylvia. Overall, even though Malcolm professes to be on team Hughes, I came out the other side of this book still feeling like they are ridiculous people with something to hide.
Read it- you'll finish it in two sittings, and you'll always think about it when you read a biography.
Even though Malcolm professes that she is on the side of
informative
medium-paced
"The suicide "goes away", and the survivors are forever in the wrong. They are like the damned, who can never make amends, who have no prospect of grace."
-
Janet Malcolm vividly illustrated how biography comes to life, focusing on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes—or rather, on the biographers who pursued their stories. Malcolm evidently draws to the magnetic force of Hughes as many women did in his lifetime and also reveals her fascination with Hughes's letters. However, she dissected the complicated narratives surrounding Plath and Hughes skillfully. The author engaged with various witnesses, extracting essential elements for her writing and reconstructing their conversations in such a fascinating way. I devoured, swallowed each chapter with passion. My only criticisms are that the final chapter did not provide much insight into the essay, and she abruptly questioned the reliability of the evidence regarding Hughes's abusive actions toward Plath, a topic that resurfaced in the recent book by Emily Van Duyne (Loving Sylvia Plath). Thus she proved her stand but did not make me sympathize more with Hughes in this literary feud.
-
Janet Malcolm vividly illustrated how biography comes to life, focusing on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes—or rather, on the biographers who pursued their stories. Malcolm evidently draws to the magnetic force of Hughes as many women did in his lifetime and also reveals her fascination with Hughes's letters. However, she dissected the complicated narratives surrounding Plath and Hughes skillfully. The author engaged with various witnesses, extracting essential elements for her writing and reconstructing their conversations in such a fascinating way. I devoured, swallowed each chapter with passion. My only criticisms are that the final chapter did not provide much insight into the essay, and she abruptly questioned the reliability of the evidence regarding Hughes's abusive actions toward Plath, a topic that resurfaced in the recent book by Emily Van Duyne (Loving Sylvia Plath). Thus she proved her stand but did not make me sympathize more with Hughes in this literary feud.
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
This book came as a bit of a surprise for me; Malcolm writes a commentary on biographies inside her own biography of Silvia Plath. It’s a complex and very meta book with a lot of fascinating insights on objectivity, bias, and the nature of biography itself. Plath’s life is undeniably weird, but the drama surrounding those who attempt to convey the events of her life has a similar air of weirdness that seems to contribute to the Plath mythos. Malcolm’s writing has a journalistic edge to it that manages to move quickly without glossing over anything. I like the ways in which she indirectly (though not subtly) calls on the reader to consider that evidence presented to them in a book is always being filtered through the eyes of its author, no matter how authoritative it may seem.
first 150 pages consumed me, final 50 pages lost me a bit
Not as much about SP as I was expecting/lead to believe. The other stuff was a lot less interesting. Eh, it was aight.