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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I was not expecting to find this book so incredibly riveting- and yet it was all I read for a while there, savouring passages of language and some incredibly insightful points that articulated much of the feeling I have often had toward the biographical form. The tension of which Plath was the real Plath, the Plath Biographers, Olwyn & Ted Hughes and sundry is a perfect vehicle for this book - and lubricates some intelligent and sometimes divisive material I think anyone who reads biographical books should read. Propulsive in its narrative composition and just damn good non-fiction.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
so surprised by how readable this non fiction is! excellent book id like to read more of hers
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I recently had Plath’s The Bell Jar recommended to me. While reading about Plath (and, unavoidably, also about Hughes) and awaiting the arrival of the novel, I stumbled across this book by Malcolm. I had recently read her Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory and been impressed by her critical perceptiveness. Having made the decision to read more of her work, and embarrassed that I came to it only after her death, I jumped at the opportunity to combine the emerging interest in Plath and Malcolm by reading this first. I am still digesting what I’ve read, but my initial response is that Malcolm is a great literary critic and this treatment of biography as a genre is the best I have ever read. I have a few quibbles with some of her observations, but she makes me think. Her work is smart and informative, meticulous even, without being stiff and overly academic. I loved it. Just what cultural criticism should be.
This is a very thought provocative book. A lot about it is about writing biography. Accurate biographies can be very hard to write especially when many of the people that knew the person are still alive and access to the papers are controlled by family. The family will often put stipulations on the authors who write the biographies.
In the case of Sylvia Plath much of her writings were controlled by her estranged husband Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath's mother who have not given writers unrestricted access to much of her work. Ted Hughes who is well known in his own right, has caused some difficulties for her biographers.
Of course, in his defense he has had to think about their children who very young when Sylvia Plath died. Also, he has been much criticized for possibly not doing enough to prevent Sylvia Plath's suicide. He had an affair with another woman just before she died.
Even though Janet Malcolm, admits she is biased in favor of Ted Hughes, the book does make it seem interesting the question of what went wrong for Sylvia Plath and the question of whether her suicide could have been prevented. The book make's Plath's death seem like Marilyn Monroe's death which occurred about the same time; both these women were talented but had their personal issues. The book did make me want to read a biography of Sylvia Plath.
Janet Malcolm admits she is biased in favor of the Hughes. She had met his sister several times. While I don't question Janet Malcolm's integrity, I think it might be hard for her to be totally objective. She had never met Sylvia Plath while Ted Hughes and his family might be able to help Janet Malcolm if she won their favor.
In the case of Sylvia Plath much of her writings were controlled by her estranged husband Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath's mother who have not given writers unrestricted access to much of her work. Ted Hughes who is well known in his own right, has caused some difficulties for her biographers.
Of course, in his defense he has had to think about their children who very young when Sylvia Plath died. Also, he has been much criticized for possibly not doing enough to prevent Sylvia Plath's suicide. He had an affair with another woman just before she died.
Even though Janet Malcolm, admits she is biased in favor of Ted Hughes, the book does make it seem interesting the question of what went wrong for Sylvia Plath and the question of whether her suicide could have been prevented. The book make's Plath's death seem like Marilyn Monroe's death which occurred about the same time; both these women were talented but had their personal issues. The book did make me want to read a biography of Sylvia Plath.
Janet Malcolm admits she is biased in favor of the Hughes. She had met his sister several times. While I don't question Janet Malcolm's integrity, I think it might be hard for her to be totally objective. She had never met Sylvia Plath while Ted Hughes and his family might be able to help Janet Malcolm if she won their favor.
challenging
medium-paced