The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

A new, vivid account of the final months of the esteemed writer's life

In her last days, Sylvia Plath struggled to break out from the control of the towering figure of her husband Ted Hughes. In the antique mythology of his retinue, she had become the gorgon threatening to bring down the House of Hughes. Drawing on recently available court records, archives, and interviews, and reevaluating the memoirs of the formidable Hughes contingent who treated Plath as a female hysteric, Carl Rollyson rehabilitates the image of a woman too often viewed solely within the confines of what Hughes and his collaborators wanted to be written.

Rollyson is the first biographer to gain access to the papers of Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse at Smith College, a key figure in the poet's final days. Barnhouse was a therapist who may have been the only person to whom Plath believed she could reveal her whole self. Barnhouse went beyond the protocols of her profession, serving more as Plath's ally, seeking a way out of the imprisoning charisma of Ted Hughes and friends he counted on to support a regime of antipathy against her.

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath focuses on the train of events that plagued Plath's last seven months when she tried to recover her own life in the midst of Hughes's alternating threats and reassurances. In a siege-like atmosphere, a tormented Plath continued to write, reach out to friends, and care for her two children. Why Barnhouse seemed, in Hughes's malign view, to be his wife's undoing, and how Hughes, his cohorts, and biographers parsed the events that led to the poet's death form the charged and contentious story this book has to tell.

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The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

A new, vivid account of the final months of the esteemed writer's life

In her last days, Sylvia Plath struggled to break out from the control of the towering figure of her husband Ted Hughes. In the antique mythology of his retinue, she had become the gorgon threatening to bring down the House of Hughes. Drawing on recently available court records, archives, and interviews, and reevaluating the memoirs of the formidable Hughes contingent who treated Plath as a female hysteric, Carl Rollyson rehabilitates the image of a woman too often viewed solely within the confines of what Hughes and his collaborators wanted to be written.

Rollyson is the first biographer to gain access to the papers of Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse at Smith College, a key figure in the poet's final days. Barnhouse was a therapist who may have been the only person to whom Plath believed she could reveal her whole self. Barnhouse went beyond the protocols of her profession, serving more as Plath's ally, seeking a way out of the imprisoning charisma of Ted Hughes and friends he counted on to support a regime of antipathy against her.

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath focuses on the train of events that plagued Plath's last seven months when she tried to recover her own life in the midst of Hughes's alternating threats and reassurances. In a siege-like atmosphere, a tormented Plath continued to write, reach out to friends, and care for her two children. Why Barnhouse seemed, in Hughes's malign view, to be his wife's undoing, and how Hughes, his cohorts, and biographers parsed the events that led to the poet's death form the charged and contentious story this book has to tell.

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The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

by Carl Rollyson

Narrated by Arthur Morey

Unabridged — 9 hours, 44 minutes

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath

by Carl Rollyson

Narrated by Arthur Morey

Unabridged — 9 hours, 44 minutes

Audiobook (Digital)

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Overview

A new, vivid account of the final months of the esteemed writer's life

In her last days, Sylvia Plath struggled to break out from the control of the towering figure of her husband Ted Hughes. In the antique mythology of his retinue, she had become the gorgon threatening to bring down the House of Hughes. Drawing on recently available court records, archives, and interviews, and reevaluating the memoirs of the formidable Hughes contingent who treated Plath as a female hysteric, Carl Rollyson rehabilitates the image of a woman too often viewed solely within the confines of what Hughes and his collaborators wanted to be written.

Rollyson is the first biographer to gain access to the papers of Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse at Smith College, a key figure in the poet's final days. Barnhouse was a therapist who may have been the only person to whom Plath believed she could reveal her whole self. Barnhouse went beyond the protocols of her profession, serving more as Plath's ally, seeking a way out of the imprisoning charisma of Ted Hughes and friends he counted on to support a regime of antipathy against her.

The Last Days of Sylvia Plath focuses on the train of events that plagued Plath's last seven months when she tried to recover her own life in the midst of Hughes's alternating threats and reassurances. In a siege-like atmosphere, a tormented Plath continued to write, reach out to friends, and care for her two children. Why Barnhouse seemed, in Hughes's malign view, to be his wife's undoing, and how Hughes, his cohorts, and biographers parsed the events that led to the poet's death form the charged and contentious story this book has to tell.


Editorial Reviews

JULY 2020 - AudioFile

Much has been written about Sylvia Plath, the iconic American poet whose untimely death in 1963 has haunted and intrigued admirers of her work. This audiobook relies on newly released information, as well as exclusive access to previously unavailable papers belonging to Plath’s therapist. All this is well and good, but Rollyson’s text lacks the energy and cohesion to make this more than a series of facts. Arthur Morey, an outstanding performer with a wide range of audiobook narration on his resumé, is not well suited to this material. Indeed, to say that his immense skill is underutilized in this is an understatement. His usually affable delivery, perfectly paced and well animated, has little impact on the text, making his performance flat and difficult to follow. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940177505350
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date: 06/15/2020
Edition description: Unabridged
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