Contemporary American Literature

Course 5_2
Spring Semester 2010
Prof.dr. Rodica Mihaia
Sylvia Plath !1"#2$1"%#&
$her reputation ' a posthumous phenomenon ( Arie !1"%5&
1")1 Coected Poems earned the Puit*er
a confessiona poet + dre, much materia of her ,or- from her ife
created a persona mythoogy transcending her auto.iography
Life :.orn in 1"#2 in /oston
father( 0tto Path 1erman immigrant from Poand2 prof. of .ioogy and entomoogy2
taught 1erman to students3 in 1"40 he dies of dia.etes 5 gangrene of the eg
mother( Aurea Schoe.er !Austrian& + /A in 1erman3 taught at /oston 6ni7ersity after
0tto8s death
1")0 $ Smith Coege Mass. $ ,on poetry pri*es $ high academic achie7ements
Mademoisee maga*ine
1"5# $ first suicide attempt eectric shoc- therapy
1"55 $ graduated summaa cum audae( thesis( 9:he ;ou.e in ;ostoie7s-i8s fiction9 ,ent
to Cam.ridge on a <u.right !studied 2 years&
1"5% $ met :ed =ughes and married him
1"5> $ ,ent to the 6S3 teaches at the 6ni7ersity of Massachusets
1"5" $ returned to ?ngand !;a7enport&3 .irth of her daughter
1"%0 :he Coossus $ intense reaction to nature
:he /e @ar A auto.. Ba.out personaity disintegration CDE7e gone around for most
of my ife as in the rarified atmosphere under a .e FarG
1"%2 $ .irth of a son + separated from :ed mo7ed to London !son committed suicide in
March 200"&
@an 1"%# $ /e @ar !Hictoria Lucas& + ,or-ing on Arie
<e.r 1"%# $ inhaed gas from the o7en
1"%5 Arie $ po,erfu sym.oism2 7ictimi*ed 5 triumphant person
Her poetry '
9 a document of eItermity9 a romanticism ta-en to its imits$ spendid2 intense pri7ate
agonies made pu.ic
$Jno,ing the sef3 re$modeing the sef ' central concern
$a supreme eIampe of confessionalism Cthe ongest suicide note e7er ,rittenG
$Dn Arie $ she concentrates on painfu facts 9D am inha.ited .y a cry9
,ith a grotesKue carity. Painfu intensity and desperation. Some.ody trapped see-ing for
i.eration. !mythoogi*ing the sef as a ,ay of empo,erment( Lady La*arus2 phoeniI
.ird2 the .ee Lueen2 acetyene Hirgin2 1odi7a2 Medu*a&
$Confessionaism is decepti7e $ 2 scenarios !Postmodern& A 1& o.edient2 o7ing daughter2
successfu3 2& re.eious2 hatred of her father2 suicida2 re7engefu
$ a sense of not -no,ing her2 and conseKuenty a sense of the poetry as truth
Techniques:
1 $ identity .ecome a matter of naming&$$postmodern
2 $ Confession !in Arie&
# $ mythoogi*ing the sef ( Medusa2 1odi7a2 Lady La*arus2