I read “Red Comet” in 19 days. It’s by far the the most fascinating biography I’ve ever read. I was struck with awe at Plath’s devotion to her art. If ever there was someone deserving of the title “writer,” it is her.
Back in 1978, I wrote my thesis on 'Ariel'. I didn't know what to make of the (then very incomplete, often extremely biased) biographic picture that was painted of the poet herself. I basically analysed 'Ariel' using the close reading approach, but even then it was practically impossible to ignore e.g. the biographical notes made by Ted Hughes. It was while translating 'Ariel' in Dutch (a very good exercise for close readers) that I fully realized that her poetry was far more complex and important than could be derived from any of these biographic views. Through the years, I've been following biographic and other publications on Plath from afar, but I never thought I would ever see one that fully demonstrated the phenomenal achievement that Plath's life and work is. Especially after reading 'American Isis' by Carl Rollyson, I gave up. Until 'Red Comet' appeared. I know that the final word on an artist can never be said, but this to me feels like a circle that, finally after so many years, has been closed.Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this Professor Clark; I have only very recently read the poetry of Sylvia Plath - the Faber and Faber Collected poems; I have never read The Bell Jar - as I am bipolar the subject matter of the novel - mental illness - is, as something I have experienced for decades since I was 18, an experience I share with Plath - although obviously differently from Plath's own experience of mental illness - I have a lot of insight into and knowledge of my mental illness. Plath's poetry when I first read it instantly struck me as being so directly original, forceful and emotionally compelling that some of Plath's poems almost struck me in the face; I find the TS Elliot quote you give somewhat limiting; I was a child of the 1950's and I was raised within a very female environment; I see women as total equals; at least I hope I do. A great deal is known about Sylvia Plath really; Plath is similar to Virginia Woolf perhaps whose literature is extensive and Woolf's life as seen by her contemporaries is very, very well recorded; I am very, very interested in Emily Bronte - and very, very little is known about Bronte - and what we do know has been often disguised and screened by her sister Charlotte Bronte; I am an English graduate with some knowledge of the differing literary forms and creative artists who used them; it is the lives of great creative artists that fascinate me; I find all people totally fascinating; so to me at least the conjectural psychoanalytical insights one can gain from reading creative texts as being essentially aspects of selfhoods expressed in so many ways by the writer is an imaginative and fascinating addendum to the artist and their form; form is not the author? What can we know of Shakespeare and Emily Bronte for example - as people and consummate artists - if we cannot try to explore their minds through their art? To me art/life is a duality and always shall be. Is there a plaque recording the life of Sylvia Plath in Westminster Abbey yet? There is of Ted Hughes.
Foster Wallace and Hemingway were already highly regarded writers prior to their suicide, whereas Plath was not. That is why her suicide is central to people's understanding of her: it's what made her famous. It has little or nothing to do with the fact that she is female. Virginia Woolf also committed suicide and that fact is not frequently mentioned in relation to her.
Tragic early deaths haunt writers - see Keats, Shelley, and Byron - counter that with the very quiet last years of Shakespeare’s life as he drifted back to Stratford and the great Ben Jonson and Shakespeare’s wife attended his rather lonely funeral.
Geez, she bangs on in EVERY interview about Plath's art being overshadowed by the drama of her death.. Does she think this is an original or unique insight? So many other scholars and biographers have made the same point, it's a little redundant in itself. She claims others "patronize" Plath but seems to patronize potential readers.
Clark is a good biographer but a terrible speaker .. the volume of this video is frustratingly and disgustingly low, (regardless of upping it to 100% ) the speaker is mostly mumbling, almost inaudible!
She was terrified of getting more electric shocks and of lobotomies, she was facing a mental hospital the next day. She was unwell, not herself and drugged. She was abandoned in a foreign country with very small children to care for by herself. I forgive her. She was too scared. Too depressed. It was the only way she could escape the shock room and the emotional agony.
I read “Red Comet” in 19 days. It’s by far the the most fascinating biography I’ve ever read. I was struck with awe at Plath’s devotion to her art. If ever there was someone deserving of the title “writer,” it is her.
Back in 1978, I wrote my thesis on 'Ariel'. I didn't know what to make of the (then very incomplete, often extremely biased) biographic picture that was painted of the poet herself. I basically analysed 'Ariel' using the close reading approach, but even then it was practically impossible to ignore e.g. the biographical notes made by Ted Hughes. It was while translating 'Ariel' in Dutch (a very good exercise for close readers) that I fully realized that her poetry was far more complex and important than could be derived from any of these biographic views. Through the years, I've been following biographic and other publications on Plath from afar, but I never thought I would ever see one that fully demonstrated the phenomenal achievement that Plath's life and work is. Especially after reading 'American Isis' by Carl Rollyson, I gave up. Until 'Red Comet' appeared. I know that the final word on an artist can never be said, but this to me feels like a circle that, finally after so many years, has been closed.Thank you so much!
I thoroughly enjoyed Red Comet. Wonderfully done. Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for this Professor Clark; I have only very recently read the poetry of Sylvia Plath - the Faber and Faber Collected poems; I have never read The Bell Jar - as I am bipolar the subject matter of the novel - mental illness - is, as something I have experienced for decades since I was 18, an experience I share with Plath - although obviously differently from Plath's own experience of mental illness - I have a lot of insight into and knowledge of my mental illness. Plath's poetry when I first read it instantly struck me as being so directly original, forceful and emotionally compelling that some of Plath's poems almost struck me in the face; I find the TS Elliot quote you give somewhat limiting; I was a child of the 1950's and I was raised within a very female environment; I see women as total equals; at least I hope I do. A great deal is known about Sylvia Plath really; Plath is similar to Virginia Woolf perhaps whose literature is extensive and Woolf's life as seen by her contemporaries is very, very well recorded; I am very, very interested in Emily Bronte - and very, very little is known about Bronte - and what we do know has been often disguised and screened by her sister Charlotte Bronte; I am an English graduate with some knowledge of the differing literary forms and creative artists who used them; it is the lives of great creative artists that fascinate me; I find all people totally fascinating; so to me at least the conjectural psychoanalytical insights one can gain from reading creative texts as being essentially aspects of selfhoods expressed in so many ways by the writer is an imaginative and fascinating addendum to the artist and their form; form is not the author? What can we know of Shakespeare and Emily Bronte for example - as people and consummate artists - if we cannot try to explore their minds through their art? To me art/life is a duality and always shall be. Is there a plaque recording the life of Sylvia Plath in Westminster Abbey yet? There is of Ted Hughes.
This is so inspiring, thank you
I do not think there can be any explaination for the misunderstood talent of Slyvia Plath some 62 years post career.
Foster Wallace and Hemingway were already highly regarded writers prior to their suicide, whereas Plath was not. That is why her suicide is central to people's understanding of her: it's what made her famous. It has little or nothing to do with the fact that she is female. Virginia Woolf also committed suicide and that fact is not frequently mentioned in relation to her.
Tragic early deaths haunt writers - see Keats, Shelley, and Byron - counter that with the very quiet last years of Shakespeare’s life as he drifted back to Stratford and the great Ben Jonson and Shakespeare’s wife attended his rather lonely funeral.
Very good point.
Hemingway and Wallace were much older and had lived much longer lives than Sylvia which is why her suicide is always associated with her more
Geez, she bangs on in EVERY interview about Plath's art being overshadowed by the drama of her death.. Does she think this is an original or unique insight? So many other scholars and biographers have made the same point, it's a little redundant in itself. She claims others "patronize" Plath but seems to patronize potential readers.
Another good point
Clark is a good biographer but a terrible speaker .. the volume of this video is frustratingly and disgustingly low, (regardless of upping it to 100% ) the speaker is mostly mumbling, almost inaudible!
The poem spoken of here (written in 1951) called "I Am An American"... comes up nowhere on Google Search. Super interesting.
Clark had access to a wealth of materials not previously given to biographers.Hence the closed archives are not accessible to the public nor internet.
Sylvia Plath ....... Drama Queen ......She abandoned her children and no one will forgive her for that . Let's be real .
She was terrified of getting more electric shocks and of lobotomies, she was facing a mental hospital the next day. She was unwell, not herself and drugged. She was abandoned in a foreign country with very small children to care for by herself. I forgive her. She was too scared. Too depressed. It was the only way she could escape the shock room and the emotional agony.
Volume is WAYYY to low!!! please learn about compression, re edit the video, and then re post!!! :)
Use the volume button and stop nit picking. Life is too short to be looking for the bad side of things
You're right! Pitty!