The Journals of Sylvia Plath

( 4 )

All Available Formats + Editions

$0.01

$12.64

Paperback

$1.24

$12.64

The Journals of Sylvia Plath Pub. Date: 5/28/1998 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

$0.01

——

The Journals of Sylvia Plath (Mass Market Paperback - Abridged) Pub. Date: 7/12/1987 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

$0.62

——

The Journals of Sylvia Plath (Mass Market Paperback) Pub. Date: 1/12/1986 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

$0.01

——

The Journals of Sylvia Plath (Mass Market Paperback) Pub. Date: 7/12/1983 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
$1.94

——

Hardcover

$1.94

——

The Journals of Sylvia Plath Pub. Date: 4/1/1982 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher

Thank you for requesting this book as a NOOK book from the publisher.

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

Advertising

Overview

No other major contemporary American writer has inspired such intense curiosity about her life as Sylvia Plath. Now the intimate and eloquent personal diaries of the twentieth century's most important female poet reveal for the first time the true story behind "The Bell Jar" and her tragic suicide at thirty. They paint, as well, a revealing portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose stature has seldom been equalled.
"A revelation." The New York Times

Editorial Reviews

New York Times Book Review

"A revelation."

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780385493918
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 5/28/1998
Edition number: 1
Pages: 384
Sales rank: 319,566
Product dimensions: 5.14 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.82 (d)

Meet the Author

Sylvia Plath

She appeared soft, and was known for the way her difficult, emotionally ravaged life bled itself onto the page. But Sylvia Plath was and is powerful, a fact evident in her poems, her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, and the success of the major motion picture, Sylvia starring Gwenyth Paltrow.

Biography

"I was supposed to be having the time of my life," Sylvia Plath writes as her alter ego Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar. Like Esther, Plath was a bright young woman who had earned scholarships and awards, and had all the talent to back them up, and saw this—but could never enjoy it. Her struggles with depression were in fact what often motivated her to write, until she committed suicide at age 30 in 1963.

Plath is among the best-known confessional poets, coming from a school (at its peak in the ‘50s and ‘60s) that left few stones unturned when it came to self-examination and revelation. Though not always bald or literal in her expression, Plath chronicled her flirtation with death—and with life—in her poems. She writes in "Lady Lazarus," a verse about a woman rising from the dead yet again, "Dying/Is an art, like everything else./I do it exceptionally well./I do it so it feels like hell./I do it so it feels real./I guess you could say I've a call." She has an ability to convey deep, almost frightening emotion, but do it in a deceptively lilting, almost-but-not-quite humorous language.

"Lady Lazarus" was published in Ariel (1965), a collection that appeared posthumously, as did other well-known collections such as Crossing the Water (1971), Winter Trees (1972) and Collected Poems (1981), for which Plath was awarded the Pulitzer. Though not all death and despair, Ariel stands out among Plath's works because it represented a departure from the first collection that was published while she was still alive, The Colossus and Other Poems, but primarily because it was such an intimate record of the end of her life. As poet Bob Hass remarked in a PBS interview, "Readers in general discovered this book [Ariel] of a young woman with two babies, whose husband had left her, living in a cold house, trying to be a mom, trying to be a writer, trying to put her life together, who didn't make it—who killed herself—and wrote poems full of rage, bravery, and it electrified people."

Plath's father died when she was eight years old, an event from which the poet never quite seemed to recover. She writes in Ariel's "Daddy": "At twenty I tried to die/And get back, back, back to you./I thought even the bones would do." Oddly (or perhaps appropriately) for a woman so devastatingly able to feel and react to people, Plath often writes about humans as objects, things that make noise, can be broken or repaired, marked in a continuum from birth to expiration. A child on the floor is like "an unstrung puppet"; cats howl "like women, or damaged instruments"; people are compared to statues. The technique provides a twisted understatement to the emotional effects Plath writes about, in a world where even the states of love and motherhood are accompanied by darkness.

Whereas Plath's poems often seem strange and dreamlike, The Bell Jar is direct and accessible. It ranks with Catcher in the Rye in both literary achievement and status. Plath gets across not only what it feels like to struggle with the most deadly and devastating emotions, but also how hapless and impotent the people around her are in coping with her. She portrays a woman at odds with the world, but does so without affect or pretension. It's no wonder the book has become a classic, particularly among young female readers. At times of despair, readers find comfort and empathy in Plath's words. All of her painfully wrought "confessions" are of us, for us.

Good To Know

Plath married fellow poet Ted Hughes, whom she met while studying in Cambridge. At the time Plath killed herself, Hughes had left her for another woman (who also eventually killed herself). He wrote about his relationship with Sylvia in Birthday Letters, an autobiographical collection of poems published just before he died in 1998.

Plath was portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia (2003), a film produced by the BBC and Focus Features. The Bell Jar was adapted to the screen by director Larry Peerce in 1979.

The Colossus was Plath's literary debut in 1960, but she also published A Winter Ship that same year, anonymously. The Bell Jar was initially published under a pseudonym, Victoria Lucas.

1. Also Known As:
  
  Victoria Lucas (pseudonym)
1. Date of Birth:
  
  October 27, 1932
2. Place of Birth:
  
  Boston, Massachusetts
1. Date of Death:
  
  February 11, 1963
2. Place of Death:
  
  London, England

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5

( 4 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(3)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

Anonymous

Posted December 21, 2001

Journals Of Sylvia Plath

I totally thought that this book told how her life was and the struggles that hse went through. Her life was tough and the way that these journal entries told her life very well. This book shows the pain and the love that this women gave and recived. From the life of living on a farm to being an aclamied writer and poet and living in London this women did alot. When her life was taken by herself her lifes legacy lived on.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted January 11, 2000

A heartfelt and honest book

I have recently bought the book and started reading it and couldn't put it down. It is so heart touching and honest. And I find I have something so in common with a wonderful writer from 30 years past makes me feel OK. I am a writer and poet and making my way in the literary field and it is tough, and although Sylvia Plath had passed on many years earlier i can relate to all the feelings she bestowed on paper
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted December 21, 1999

The Ever Inspiring Sylvia

These journals show the transition of an amateur writer to a professional. Sylvia Plath is a beautiful writer who conveys all the emotions of every talented girl. I love this book, it is my bible. I can open it up and find a passage that soothes my tensions. The only part that infuriates me, is that Ted Hughes burned all her diaries during the last part of their marriage, after the discovery of his infidelity. Obviously he wanted to salvage his reputation, but he stupidly destroyed her writing and deprived Sylvia's readers. Asside from that, I highly recommend this book if you have any interests in literature.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted June 8, 2009

No text was provided for this review.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

The Journals of Sylvia Plath

Pick Up in Store

Overview

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

New York Times Book Review

Product Details

Meet the Author

Sylvia Plath

Biography

Good To Know

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Journals Of Sylvia Plath

A heartfelt and honest book

The Ever Inspiring Sylvia