by Sylvia Plath
The archivists, librarians, and curators responsible for photocopies and scans of Plath’s letters, as well as for research assistance, who must be thanked for their tireless and important work are: Christine Barber and Peter Nelson at Amherst College; Elizabeth Maisey at Assumption College; Louise North at the BBC Written Archives Centre; Andrew Gough and Helen Melody at the British Library; James Maynard at the University of Buffalo; Jacqueline Cox, Patricia McGuire, and Anne Thomson at the University of Cambridge; Rochelle Rubinstein at the Central Zionist Archives; Christine Colburn and Barbara Gilbert at the University of Chicago; James Merrick at Colby College; Tara C. Craig and Brigette C. Kamsler at Columbia University; Rebecca Parmer at Connecticut College; Allyson Glazier, Barbara L. Krieger, and Morgan R. Swan at Dartmouth College; Emily Erwin Jones at Delta State University; Claudia Frazer at Drake University; Seamus Helferty at University College, Dublin; Sara J. Logue and Kathy Shoemaker at Emory University; Robert Brown, archivist at Faber & Faber; Dr Caroline Oates, Folklore Society Librarian, Allison Haack at Grinnell College; the reference staff at Harvard University; Cara Bertram and Anna Chen at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Zachary T. Downy, David Kim Frasier, Sarah McElroy Mitchell, Cherry Dunham Williams, and the staff of the Lilly Library, Indiana University at Bloomington; Karen Cook at the University of Kansas; Alexander Koch at Kenyon College; Fran Baker at University of Manchester; Anne L. Moore and Caroline White at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Renu Barrett at McMaster University; Katie Wood at the University of Melbourne; James Moske at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Erin George at the University of Minnesota; Melina Baron-Deutsch and Deborah Richards at Mount Holyoke College; Michelle Harvey at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Lyndsi Barnes, Isaac Gewirtz, Tal Nadan, Lee Spilberg, Weatherly Stephan, and Kyle R. Triplett at the New York Public Library; Connor Gaudet at New York University; Brooke Guthrie at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Susan Liberator and Lindy M. Smith at Ohio State University; Sylvie Merian and Maria Isabel Molestina-Kurlat at Pierpont Morgan Library; James Booth at the Philip Larkin Society; AnnaLee Pauls and Gabriel Swift at Princeton University; Ellen Shea at the Radcliffe Institute; Natalie Ford and Jean Rose at the Random House Group Archive & Library; Laura Buchholz at Reed College; Jenifer Monger at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Blair A. Benson at the University of Rochester; Matthew Reynolds at Sewanee: The University of the South; Jason Wood at Simmons College; Kevin Auer, Jean Cannon, Susan C. Floyd, Kurt Johnson, Jordan P. Mitchell, Marian Oman, Emily Roehl, Richard B. Watson, and Richard Workman at the University of Texas at Austin; Milissa Burkart and Kristina Rosenthal at the University of Tulsa; Amanda Leinberger at the United Nations Archives; Lisa Jonsson and Lotta Sundberg at Uppsala University; Molly Dohrmann and Teresa Gray at Vanderbilt University; Victoria Platt at the Archive of Art and Design, Victoria and Albert Museum Archives; Sarah Schnuriger at Washington University, St Louis; Chery Kinnick and Carla Rickerson at the University of Washington; Sue Hamilos at the Wellesley Free Library; Kathleen Fahey at the Wellesley Historical Society; Linda L. Hall at Williams College; and Heather Abbott, Jessica Becker, Michael Frost, Nancy F. Lyon, and William Massa at Yale University. Smith College colleagues and former colleagues who deserve special thanks include Martin Antonetti, Barbara Blumenthal, Mary Irwin and her student assistant Erinn Summers ’16, Dr Meg Meiman, Christina Ryan, and Nanci Young.
The following array of scholars and friends have also provided assistance that in various ways greatly benefited this book: Anna Arays, Sir Jonathan Bate, Carol Bere, Laura Joy Broom, Sarah Funke Butler, Ruby Butler-Weeks, Jessica Butterworth, Heather Clark, Rosemary Clark; Vanessa Cook, Diane Demko, Suzanne Demko, Joseph J. Feeney, SJ, Gunnar Fernlund, Amanda Ferrara, Pamela Fox, Susan France, Gwen Fries, Peter Fydler, Andre Gailani, Mackenzie Garrity, Sarah George-Waterfield, Sara Georgini, Jonathan Glover, Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, Julia Gordon-Bramer, Alix de Gramont, Nicholas M. Hasenfus, Kelly Holbert, Eric Homberger, Richard Honan, John Hopkins, Shaun Kelly, An Kieu, Jocelyne Kolb, Barbara F. Kozash, Arthur Languirand, Paul Lannon, Richard Larschan, Jane Lawrence, Carol Lewis, Amy S. Li, Maria R. Lichtmann, Annika J. Lindskog, Kim Maddever, Ieuan Mahony, Ann Safford Mandel, Sherry Marker, Laura Anderson Martino, Lisa Matchett, Gesa Matthies, Aubrey Menarndt, Mark Morford, Catherine Morgan, Abby Norman, Maeve O’Brien, Kevin O’Donnell, Laura de la Paz Rico, Cornelia Pearsall, Hannah Piercy, Dipti Ramnarain, Neil Roberts, Carl Rollyson, Harriet Rosenstein, Judith A. Salinas, Angelyn Singer, Ann Skea, Tristine Skyler, Nick Smart, Benjamin M. Stern, Jeffrey Summers, Angélique Thomine, Angeline Wang, Louise Watson, Reverend Nick Weldon, Ian Widdicks, Dianne Wieland, Lydia K. Wilkins, Andrew Wilson, Elizabeth Winder, and Mark Wormald.
For permission to quote from published material, we gratefully acknowledge Carcanet Press Ltd.
Our gratitude must extend to those at Faber & Faber who were instrumental in parts of this project, including Erica Brown, Emma Cheshire, Pauline Collingridge, Matthew Hollis, Hamish Ironside, Lavinia Singer, Camilla Smallwood, Donald Sommerville, and Martha Sprackland. The commitment of Matthew Hollis and his team at Faber & Faber to publish a complete edition of Sylvia Plath’s letters is greatly appreciated. We also thank Terry Karten and her colleagues at HarperCollins: Milan Bozic, Laura Brown, Lily Lopate, and Jennifer Murphy.
Personally, Karen is grateful to Sylvia Plath’s friends who recognized her talent, preserved her letters, and donated them to Smith College where they are cherished. Generous support from President Kathleen McCartney, Provost Katherine Rowe, Dean of Libraries Susan Fliss, former President Ruth Simmons and alumnae, including Rachael Bartels, also added select letters to the collection. Karen also thanks Beth Myers, director of special collections, and Christopher Loring, former director of libraries, who extended all the resources of the Smith College Libraries for the duration of this independent project. In addition to former curator and mentor Ruth Mortimer, who collected the papers of Sylvia Plath for Smith College with the support of former President Jill Ker Conway, Karen would like to recognize her first professional mentor, Wilmarth S. Lewis, who edited the Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence and taught her the exacting art of editing letters. Karen is particularly indebted to her brilliant coeditor, Peter K. Steinberg, who completed the lion’s share of work on this edition with superior erudition and dedication. Most profoundly, Karen wishes to thank her extended Valuckas and Kukil families, especially her husband, Bohdan Kukil, for his humour and unwavering love and support during this intense editing project.
Peter would like to thank his wife Courtney for her love, extraordinary patience, and support for the duration of this project. The love and understanding of the families Steinberg, Levine, Little, and Plocinski at home and during vacations over the last five years must be recognized. Peter would not have pursued his interest in Sylvia Plath were it not for the initial encouragement from Andrea Holland and Jamie Wasserman. Since meeting Karen V. Kukil in 1998, she has always been a mentor and inspiration, helping both personally and professionally. Peter would like to thank Karen for her complete belief and trust in him, which made his contribution to this project possible.
Index
The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the Index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
A. M. Heath Literary Agents, 548n, 650
Aaron, Daniel, 149n, 156, 163, 165, 200
Aaron, Stephen, 303
ABC Television (Great Britain), 552
Abbott, Christine, 178
Abercrombie, North Dakota, 336
Abse, Daniel, 190n
Academy of American Poets, 388, 617n
Accent, 83, 104, 331; SP’s correspondence with, 104, 331; SP’s work in, 104n, 131, 133, 325; TH’s work in, 83n
Ackroyd, Graham, 481n; TH’s correspondence with, 481n
Adams, John Kay, ‘The Reluctant Moles’, 696
Adams, Phoebe Lou, 11,
581n
Adamson, George, 285n
Adamson, Joy, Living Free, 672n
Addams, Charles, 154, 178, 747
Addenbrooke’s Hospital (Cambridge, England), 12–13, 585–6
Adobe Photoshop, 834n, 919n
Aeschylus, 720; Agamemnon, 720
Africa, 7, 665, 694, 783; Africa, North, 880
‘After the storm . . .’, 739n
Albany, New York, 355, 357
Albee, Edward, The American Dream, 670n, 676; The Death of Bessie Smith, 670n, 676
Albion House, 894
Albro, Mary, 315n
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 351
Aldermaston, England, 461
Aldrich, Amy, 15n
Aldrich, Ann, 15n
Aldrich, C. Duane, 15, 25
Aldrich, Duane, 15n, 593
Aldrich, Elizabeth (‘Libby’), 15n, 52
Aldrich, Elizabeth Cannon (‘Betty’), 15, 25, 63, 72, 482, 534, 561, 641, 769, 948, 963
Aldrich, John, 15n
Aldrich, Mark, 15n
Aldrich, Peter, 15n
Aldrich, Sarah, 15n
Aldrich, Stephen, 15n
Aldrich family, 15n, 26–7, 72, 113, 145, 176, 260–1, 453, 483, 593, 607, 745, 948
Alexandria, Virginia, 119n
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 328–9, 343, 357n, 596n, 601–2, 614–16, 618, 641, 650n, 659–62, 701, 720, 723, 726, 757, 770, 819; SP’s correspondence with, see Jones, Judith
Algeria, 880
Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, 332–6
Alitalia (airline), 756
Alliston, Susan, 362, 920
Allott, Kenneth, Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse, 1918–60 (quotation from), 560n
Alps, 118
Altadena, California, 366n
Alvarez, A. (Alfred), 62n, 186, 187n, 385n, 443, 493n, 555, 607, 609, 786, 887, 890, 893, 896, 928, 936; ‘In the Picture’, 606n, 609; ‘An Outstanding Young Poet’, (quotation from) 443–4; ‘The Poet and the Poetess’, 555n; SP’s correspondence with, 800; ‘Tough Young Poet’ (quotation from), 186
American, The, 80
American Automobile Association (‘AAA’), 348
American Legion, 697
Americans, women, 261
Amerika-Haus Berlin, 620n
Ames, Elizabeth, 359, 361, 363, 660; SP’s correspondence with, 296, 298, 309, 354–6
Amherst College, 20, 34, 43, 47, 54, 70, 75, 87, 100, 108n, 113, 149, 153, 182, 208, 240
Amherst, Mass., 193, 240
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 118n
Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship Fund, 596
Anaheim, California, 526n
Anderson, Alan, 483; SP’s correspondence with, 480–1, 497; TH’s correspondence with, 480n
Anderson, Elizabeth, 928n
Anderson, Hedli, 486
Anderson, Judith Margaret Reutlinger, SP’s correspondence with, 369–70
Anderson, Lee, 229–31, 461, 464, 466, 476n, 477; SP’s correspondence with, 232, 297
Andresen, Carl H., 373n
Andrews, Harry, 108n
Anglo Continental Bureau, 960n
Animal Rescue League of Boston, 316
‘Another Operation for Sir Anthony?’, 111n
Antaeus, 135, 153, 177, 273, 301, 419, 519
Antioch Review, The, 83; SP’s work in, 83n, 104, 112, 117, 131, 168, 325, 424–5
April Fools’ Day, 443, 457, 479, 519, 554
Arabian Peninsula, 7
Arabic language, 609, 614
Arb, Siv, 764, 766
Archer, Isabel (fictitious character), 136, 301
Ariel (SP’s horse), 931
Arizona, 352–3, 785
Arnold, Matthew, 26n, 27; Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism (quotation from), 26n;
ArtNews, 212, 215, 223
Arts Council of Great Britain, 619, 638, 657, 883–4, 891
Arts in Society, 325; SP’s work in, 325n, 424–5, 660
Arundell, Joan Ingles, Lady, 649n, 675
Arundell, Constantine Harris, 633n
Arundell, Katharine Juliana Harris, 633n
Arundell, Robert Duncan Harris, Sir, 633, 635, 637, 640, 643, 645, 647, 655, 675, 692, 747–8
Arvin, Newton, 208n, 215, 220, 233
Ary, S., The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers, 593
Ashcroft, Peggy, 578
Astor family, 848, 892
Atheneum Books, 651
Atlantic, 11, 15–17, 19, 33, 39, 61, 63, 71, 73, 78, 83, 109n, 112, 123, 133, 185, 228, 248, 330n, 371n, 379, 388, 397, 418, 429, 458, 464, 468, 483, 509, 581, 593, 655n, 698, 739, 897, 903, 940, 954; SP’s correspondence with, 537, see also Davison, Peter; Lawrence, Seymour; McLeod, Emilie; Weeks, Edward; SP’s work in, 35, 39n, 50, 62, 76, 104, 117, 325, 372, 464n, 509, 581n, 660, 718, 940n; TH’s work in, 11n, 15, 39, 62, 78, 698n, 739
Atlantic Monthly Press, 12n, 26, 30, 32n, 33, 35, 42, 84, 86, 111, 130, 227, 275, 285n, 304, 317–18, 326–7, 330, 650
Atlantic Ocean, 124, 130, 177, 290, 306, 374, 629
Atomic bomb, 461
Auckland, New Zealand, 468
Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 17, 21–2, 27, 35, 71–2, 77, 91, 106, 108, 110, 132, 136, 144–5, 155, 185, 263–4, 279, 304, 469, 473, 484, 485n, 486–8, 491, 493, 531, 576, 756; ‘As I Walked Out One Evening’, 279n; ‘Fish in the Unruffled Lakes’, 279n; ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’, 279n; ‘Law, Say the Gardeners is the Sun’, 279n; ‘Look, Stranger’, 279n; ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’, 279n
Audience, 287n, 307; SP’s work in, 287n, 307n, 325, 424–5, 660; TH’s work in, 307n
Australia, 35, 79, 214, 27, 301, 322, 566
Austria, 37, 357, 517, 531–2, 836n, 849, 856, 859–60, 893
Automobile Association (Great Britain) (‘AA’), 755, 883
Ave Maria (ship), 801
Axelrod, George, 108n; Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, 108, 110
Axworthy, Maureen, 649n, 709
Axworthy, Nancy Norah Willcocks, 648, 652, 657, 665–6, 668, 675, 693, 709, 714, 722, 727, 730, 733, 748, 751, 765, 768–9, 810, 830, 834, 839, 864, 870, 874, 883, 892, 904–5, 911, 914–15, 918, 955–6, 958–9
Axworthy, Terence L., 649n
Axworthy, Walter, 648n, 657, 666
Ayer, Jacqueline, A Wish for Little Sister, 676n
Babson College, 62
Babytalk, 448
Babyminders, 461, 463–4, 469, 487, 630n, 927, 940, 958
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 180
Bachrach Photography, 709
Back Bay (Boston, Mass.), 271, 297, 309
Back, Mary Louise Vincent, SP’s correspondence with, 718
Badlands, North Dakota, 340
Bagg, Robert, 137n, 153
Bahamas, 385, 655, 748
Bailey, David, 716n
Baker, Herschel Clay, 52
Baker, Marcia Nozal, 339
Baldner, Gaby, Joba and the Wild Boar, 676n; The Penguins of Penguin Town, 896n
Baldwin, Shirley, see Norton, Shirley Baldwin
Balfour, Susan, 650n
Bali, 115
Ballylee, Ireland, 846n, 924n, 951
Baltimore Sun, 185
Baltzell, Jane, see Kopp, Jane Baltzell Bandeen, Betty Isobelle, 62
Bangkok, Thailand, 566
Bangor, Wales, 625n, 667n, 803
Bangor University, 625n, 667, 803
Barbados, 655n
Barbizon Hotel for Women (New York), 685
Barclays Bank, 418
Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead), 441n, 496, 536
Bardot, Brigitte, 389
Barnard College, 73n, 685
Barnes, Joan Cantor, 4n
Barnes, Joanna (‘Jody’), 108n
Barnhouse, Donald Grey, 790n
Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany, see Beuscher, Ruth Barnhouse
Barr, Ursula, 555n, 786
Barron, Leon, 218n, 221
Bartlett, Doris, 630, 635, 940
Bartók, Béla, 304
Baseball, 194
>
Baskin, Esther, 284, 300, 512, 760–1; Creatures of Darkness, 294, 300, 316, 332n, 613; SP’s correspondence with, 284, 291–5, 315–16; TH’s dedications to, 316
Baskin, Leonard, 156, 163, 292, 294, 316, 332n, 406, 479, 481, 512, 620–1, 758; ‘Avarice’, 292n; ‘Death Among the Thistles’, 284; ‘Gluttony’, 292n; Leonard Baskin: Woodcuts and Engravings, 758n; ‘Lust’, 292n; Pike: A Poem by Ted Hughes, 293n, 406; ‘Pride’, 292n; Sculptures Drawings Prints, 284n; ‘Seated Man With Owl’, 315; SP’s correspondence with, 284, 315–16, 613–14, 760–1; SP’s dedications to, 316n; TH’s correspondence with, 760n; ‘Tobias and the Angel’, 284, 406
Baskin, Tobias Isaac, 284, 292, 294, 315–16, 613, 761
Bate, Walter Jackson, 53, 56
Bates, H. E. (Herbert Ernest), Achilles the Donkey, 896n
Battaglia di Legnano, La, 619n
Battery Park (New York), 153
Battle, Dr, 632
Baudelaire, Charles, 107
Baughman, Richard DeWeese, 19–20
Baxter, Kathleen Mary Carver, 492
Beacon Hill (Boston, Mass.), 192–3, 200, 206, 213, 237, 250, 252–3, 273, 275, 281, 285, 287, 292, 309, 328, 365
Bean, Orson, 108n
Beaton, Dollie, 462
Beatty, Clyde, 236, 241
Bedford College, 407, 419
Bedwell Community Association, 923n
Beer, Patricia, 513n, 887, 890
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 299, 323n; Piano Sonata No. 14 (‘Moonlight Sonata’), 299; Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55 (‘Eroica’), 323
Behan, Brendan, 428; The Hostage, 428
Bell, Charles G. (Charles Greenleaf), 357n, 359
Bell, Marie, 433
Bellwood, Sarah Christie, 41, 69, 179
Bell jars, 877
Belmont, Mass., 684n
Belstone, England, 865n, 883, 905
Bemelmans, Ludwig, Madeline and the Gypsies, 676n
Benidorm, Spain, 34, 212, 370, 377
Bennett, James 934
Bennett, Joan, 537n
Bennington College, 666, 684
Bennington, Vermont, 666
Benotti, Dorothy Schober (SP’s aunt ‘Dot’/‘Dotty’), 3, 28, 47, 113, 149, 159, 176, 193–5, 199, 379, 384, 390, 394, 396, 430, 445, 453, 456, 462, 466, 502, 514, 531, 541, 545, 550, 558, 568, 572, 577, 591, 599, 657, 697–8, 703, 705, 707–8, 713–14, 725, 728–9, 733, 735, 738, 755, 768, 773, 814, 833, 844, 848–50, 859, 861–3, 866, 875, 884, 888, 906, 922, 928–9, 941, 949–50, 959, 963, 966n; SP’s correspondence with, 334, 342, 374, 380–1, 531n, 543–4, 597–8, 721–2, 929–31