Sylvia Plath (United States, 1932-1963)
Sylvia Plath is an American power, novelist, and short story writer best known for her confessional poetry. Her two most famous published works are Ariel, a collection of poems, and The Bell Jar which is a semi-autobiographical novel which was published posthumously. Throughout her life Plath suffered from severe depression, which she first experienced during college. She was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy for this, after which she attempted suicide. Her writing deals with the feelings of depression she suffered throughout her entire life and often invokes deeply personal details, such as that of her miscarriage and how her husband treated her.
Her most famous works were written in periods of creativity where she would write endlessly; two of these works are The Bell Jar and Ariel.
“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.”
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar
Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche.
Ariel
When Sylvia Plath died, she not only left behind a prolific life but also her unpublished literary masterpiece, Ariel. Her husband, Ted Hughes, brought the collection to life in 1966, and its publication garnered worldwide acclaim. This collection showcases the beloved poet’s brilliant, provoking, and always moving poems, including Ariel and once again shows why readers have fallen in love with her work throughout the generations.
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath's journals were originally published in 1982 in a heavily abridged version authorized by Plath's husband, Ted Hughes. This new edition is an exact and complete transcription of the diaries Plath kept during the last twelve years of her life. Sixty percent of the book is material that has never before been made public, more fully revealing the intensity of the poet's personal and literary struggles.
Crossing the Water
Crossing the Water is a 1971 posthumous collection of poetry by Sylvia Plath that was prepared for publication by Ted Hughes. These are transitional poems that were written along with the poems that appear in her poetic opus, Ariel.