"Dying, Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well."
- Sylvia Plath
For the past few months, I have been reading Sylvia Plath's diary. I've discovered I have a lot in common with her. She knew what she wanted.
Plath's diary is written like a novel. Even though she had not planned for anyone to read it, she wrote intelligently. She was extremely ambitious (she attended Smith College and then won a Fulbright Scholarship to Cambridge) and was always planning her next move. Our personalities are so similar, it makes me think I could be a world famous writer someday. :>)
I would recommend Plath's work to anyone interested in studying life. "The Bell Jar" is her most popular work. After reading her diary, I discovered that this book is 100% about her experience during the time she worked for Mademoiselle. This is Plath's biography disguised as a novel. Brilliant.
On February 11, 1963, at age 30, Sylvia Plath committed suicide. She was too smart for a woman of the 1950's and had struggled to have a writing career of her own despite a failed marriage and having to care for two small children.
After reading her diary and contemplating on her life, I think Sylvia Plath was a very brave woman who successfully overcame her depression and celebrated life. Her suicide is not what defines her. That's just the way her body died. Her soul is still in her books and poetry.
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again,"
- Sylvia Plath
Hi Jenny,
ReplyDeleteIt's Amanda (Alan's girlfriend). I stumbled on your blog after stumbling on Eric's via Gmail (yay, Internet). Anyway, I started to read her journals, and I agree with you. It's also interesting to read about Ted Hughes and his poetry -- it gives more insight into her own struggle to publish and succeed, while also trying to step out of the enormous shadow her husband cast.
This post made me want to go back to her journals again. Thanks for that! Hope to see you for the Michigan trip if all goes well with my school schedule.