Reviews
THE LETTERS OF SYLVIA PLATH underscores Plath's jaw-dropping output, her rapid growth from merely talented to singular voice...Tapping well-known archives and unearthing fresh specimens...The result is a comprehensive portrait of the artist as a young woman, ardently -- unnervingly -- committed to literature and relationships., Engaging and revealing, The Letters of Sylvia Plath offers a captivating look into the life and inner thinking of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century., "Engaging and revealing, The Letters of Sylvia Plath offers a captivating look into the life and inner thinking of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century." -- Paul Alexander, Washington Post "But these early letters reveal something the journals don''t: a flicker of uncertainty about Hughes that now seems prophetic...It''s not Plath''s death necessarily, or even the dissolution of her marriage, but her doubleness that''s been the abiding mystery...The achievement of this avalanche of letters is that it disabuses everyone of the notion that Plath wasn''t aware of her contradictions or in (some) control of them." -- Parul Sehgal, New York Times "A monumental gathering, in the first of two volumes, of the scattered correspondence of the now iconic--and canonical--poet and novelist...a multifaceted portrait of a thoughtful young woman who might have gone on to even greater accomplishments than she did... A literary milestone." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "THE LETTERS OF SYLVIA PLATH underscores Plath''s jaw-dropping output, her rapid growth from merely talented to singular voice...Tapping well-known archives and unearthing fresh specimens...The result is a comprehensive portrait of the artist as a young woman, ardently -- unnervingly -- committed to literature and relationships." -- Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Proustian in detail...giving us an incomparable portrait of American girlhood in the mid-20th century...Plath rises to wonderfully passionate heights in the love letters to Ted Hughes with which this first installment of her correspondence concludes." -- Sandra M. Gilbert, The American Scholar "This scintillating and poignant autobiography in letters ends with their exultant marriage. For all of Plath''s published works and myriad inquiries into her relationship with Hughes and suicide at age 30, her letters blaze with fresh and stunning revelations, with more to come." -- Booklist "This is a valuable, significant addition to the body of Plath scholarship." -- Publishers Weekly "As the volume of her writings available to the public has become near-exhaustive, another Plath has become visible. Neither the magnificent harpy of Ariel, nor the haunting Dido figure of Birthday Letters, and not a cypher for female suffering under male brutality or a model of madness either; but a woman entire: funny, ambitious, paradoxical, wildly clever and alive...In her correspondence, we find more of the writer she was without Hughes, and the artist she could have been had she survived." -- The Spectator (UK) "Her life had so many facets...but this aspect of her young life, her determination, is never less than inspiring for the reader privileged to see her correspondence long after her death." -- Erica Wagner, New Statesman (UK) "These letters seem both a way for Plath to present herself to the world and a means of self-discovery...I found myself caught up in the emerging facets of Plath''s complex character...her strong yet fragilely put-together identity...There is, though, a certain thrill in reading along as Plath the dedicated artist hoves into view." -- Daphne Merkin, Wall Street Journal "In this collection of letters, Sylvia Plath creates herself, narratively, stylistically, and imaginatively....What truth we can find about her, therefore, arises from reading the whole volume and witnessing how Plath''s development as a person deeply intertwines with her increasing power, range, and stylistic control as a writer." -- Hudson Review, In this collection of letters, Sylvia Plath creates herself, narratively, stylistically, and imaginatively....What truth we can find about her, therefore, arises from reading the whole volume and witnessing how Plath's development as a person deeply intertwines with her increasing power, range, and stylistic control as a writer., A monumental gathering, in the first of two volumes, of the scattered correspondence of the now iconic--and canonical--poet and novelist...a multifaceted portrait of a thoughtful young woman who might have gone on to even greater accomplishments than she did... A literary milestone., Her life had so many facets...but this aspect of her young life, her determination, is never less than inspiring for the reader privileged to see her correspondence long after her death., As the volume of her writings available to the public has become near-exhaustive, another Plath has become visible. Neither the magnificent harpy of Ariel, nor the haunting Dido figure of Birthday Letters, and not a cypher for female suffering under male brutality or a model of madness either; but a woman entire: funny, ambitious, paradoxical, wildly clever and alive...In her correspondence, we find more of the writer she was without Hughes, and the artist she could have been had she survived., But these early letters reveal something the journals don't: a flicker of uncertainty about Hughes that now seems prophetic...It's not Plath's death necessarily, or even the dissolution of her marriage, but her doubleness that's been the abiding mystery...The achievement of this avalanche of letters is that it disabuses everyone of the notion that Plath wasn't aware of her contradictions or in (some) control of them.
