by Yehuda Koren
The two airmen were a little nervous: Keith Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
‘Assia was but sixteen’: John Steele’s diary, April 1943, courtesy of John Steele.
Girls made Steele feel awkward: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘May I kiss you’: John Steele’s diary.
‘perfect gentlemen’: Hannah Weinberg-Shalitt, interview in Israel, January 1999.
‘I have imagined the worst’: AW–Keith Gems, a letter, 18 November 1943, in private hands.
English culture: AW–Keith Gems, a letter, 30 January 1944, in private hands.
‘a very conservative society’: Hannah Weinberg-Shalitt, interview in Israel, January 1999.
Among Tabeetha graduates: Wedad and Leila Andreas, interview in Israel, November 2001.
‘snuggles on benches’: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘at that moment I became something of a Zionist’: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
he’d vowed to break it all: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
Assia took the courses in small arms: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘We feel like frightened heroes’: AW–Keith Gems, a letter, 25 April 1946, in private hands.
‘sheer suicide’: AW–Keith Gems, a letter, 21 May 1946, in private hands.
On Monday, 22 July 1946: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
Five: First Marriage
‘She was like a goddess’: Mira Hamermesh, interview in London, October 2001.
grumbled to Celia: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
Steele was living at his parents’ home: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘In a family ruled by iron discipline’: Keith Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
‘I saw myself losing all my money over an abortion’: John Steele–Keith Gems, a letter, 19 January 1947, in private hands.
an art student: General Register Office, St Catherine’s House, London.
the bride wore a severe black suit: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘if this is paradise’: AW–Keith Gems, a postcard, 29 May 1947, in private hands.
letting her room to a nurse: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘Assia was being difficult’: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘cold, unkind, and repulsive’: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
she swallowed fifty aspirins: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
a hat-check girl in The Cave nightclub: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
his trunks full of typical African souvenirs: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘found some consolation’: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
forcing her to marry: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2002–August 2003.
His clinic was empty: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
Assia was not academically inclined: John Bosher, telephone interview and email exchange, July–August 2002.
Assia was registered: University of British Columbia Yearbook, 1952.
It infuriated the Steele family: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘She made an immediate impression’: John Bosher, telephone interview and email exchange, July–August 2002.
‘a passionate affair’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Joan Fontaine’s dresses: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘Our eyes met, we smiled’: John Steele, letter exchange, July 2002–January 2004.
‘the cannery, with its erotic motif’: TH, ‘Descent’, in Capriccio, Collected Poems, p. 787.
‘I was only a boy’: John Bosher, telephone interview and email exchange, July–August 2002.
Her parents knew nothing of this: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘Lilith of abortions’: TH, ‘Dreamers’, in Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, p. 1145.
‘He needed women’: Esther Bull Birney, telephone interview, December 2001, and letter January 2002.
‘He just wanted a fling’: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
Six: A Second Husband
‘I often regret’: Professor Richard Lipsey, ‘An Intellectual Autobiography’, in Macroeconomic Theory and Policy – the Selected Essays of Richard G Lipsey.
One night in August: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘Assia’s mother took care’: Thirell (Lipsey) Weiss, email exchange, August–December 2002.
‘To be with Assia’: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
irritated by her concept of sharing: Jo (Reed) Price, email exchange, September–October 2002.
wheedle cigarettes: Thirell (Lipsey) Weiss, email exchange, August–December 2002.
‘rather slothful’: Ken Reed, letter to the authors, 24 November 2002.
go skiing: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Lisa had severed her connections with her sister: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
She and Dick travelled to Dachau: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘My diet this week’: AW–CC, a letter, 24 August 1955, in private hands.
‘quietly in love with Assia’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
shopping sprees: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
‘absolutely exquisite’: AW–CC, a letter, 24 August 1955, in private hands.
she tried to kill herself twice: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Assia flew to Berlin: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
‘the English are inequipped’: AW–CC, a letter, 24 August 1955, in private hands.
the very idea repulsed her: Pam Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
Seven: Falling in Love
‘some other middle-aged persons’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘the young Gary Coooper’: William Trevor, Excursions in the Real World, Hutchinson, 1993, p. 115.
sitting by the purser’s office: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘a certain restlessness’: Peter Orr, ed. The Poet Speaks, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966, p. 272.
‘Apples and Apples’: DW, Solo with Grazing Deer, Toronto, Exile Editions, 2001, p. 62.
‘It was more two lives than two ages’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
his wife’s feelings: RL,
interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Pushkin’s poems: Assia’s copy of The Poems, Prose and Plays of Alexander Pushkin is in TH’s library, Emory.
Just before Christmas, she informed Dick: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
taking David to her favourite jazz clubs: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘uncomfortable tolerance of each other’: Peter Porter, ‘Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath: a Bystander’s Recollections’, Australian Book Review, August 2001, p. 23.
‘I don’t think she ever grew up fully’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘Dick has a masochistic streak’: Keith Gems, interview in London, December 2003, and letter exchange, August 2002–February 2004.
virtually separated: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
Assia teased Dick: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
they drew a fair amount together: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
only four have survived: Assia’s paintings are all in private collections.
They wrote poems to each other: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
A Blot in the ’Scutcheon: the book is in TH’s library, Emory.
‘Those years, when Assia and I’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘The thing that bound us together’: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘a complete democracy’: Edward Lucie-Smith, The Burnt Child: An Autobiography, Victor Gollancz, 1975, p. 165.
the slim, fair David: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘severely puritan teetotallers’: Edward Lucie-Smith, The Burnt Child, p. 172.
‘Poets came with manuscripts’: Bruce Bennett, Spirit in Exile: Peter Porter and his Poetry, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1991.
‘Ted once scandalised’: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘some writers, when it came to the point’: Edward Lucie-Smith, A Group Anthology, Oxford University Press, 1963, p. vii.
Hughes handed Hobsbaum: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘she could not accept criticism’: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
David and Assia never met Ted Hughes: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
Hughes kept in touch with the Group: Edward Lucie-Smith, The Burnt Child, p. 166.
‘and I do praise the force’: AW poem, ‘Magnificat’, unpublished.
‘Winter End, Hertfordshire’: AW poem, unpublished.
David and Assia walked a great deal: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘a community of vision’: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘There was a poetic spirit in Assia’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
lived like a hermit: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘we thought that if I went east’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
some intimate moments: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘My love, I’m so lonely’: DW–AW, a letter, undated, in private hands.
‘Wherever we walked together’: DW, ‘For Assia’, unpublished poem.
Peter Porter spent an entire evening: Peter Porter, interview in London, September 2001, and letters, October–December 2001.
‘All of a sudden, she confided’: Thirell (Lipsey) Weiss, email exchange, August–December 2002.
‘it still didn’t get to the stage’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Assia discovered that she was pregnant: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
the marriage was on the rocks: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
‘it came as a shock that I might get divorced’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘The marriage was an empty shell’: Martin Graham, interview in London, October 2001.
Dick drove her: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
Eight: Third Marriage
‘Monkeys are monogamous’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘Assia stuck out’: Patricia Mendelson, interview in London, September 2001.
One of the party highlights: Alton Becker, email exchange, March–July 2002.
three seminar-sized classes: DW–Earle Birney, letter, 9 October 1959, Toronto.
A common practice: DW–Earle Birney, letter, 1 April 1960, Toronto.
whispers and frowns: Alton Becker, email exchange, March–July 2002.
British Council to Japan: DW–Earle Birney, letter, 8 February 1960, Toronto.
promoted herself: General Register Office, St Catherine’s House, London.
the Burmese judge: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
found herself pregnant: Lisa Gutmann to AW, letter, 22 August 1960, in private hands.
began an affair: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘We never made plans’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘was upset’: Fay Weldon, Auto da Fay, Flamingo, 2002, p. 350.
‘it was our duty’: ibid.
‘breed politics’: Peter Porter, ‘Some People: Slogans for the Sixties’, Guardian, 20 December 1988.
‘wonderfully mad place’: Douglas Chowns, email exchange, November 2001– June 2003.
published an ad: courtesy of Jane Donaldson.
‘Her figure’: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
‘seldom met anyone’: Fay, Weldon, Auto da Fay, p. 326.
‘innocent toddler’: ibid, p. 322.
Peter Redgrove complained: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
slightly swarthy face: Julia Matcham, interview in London, September 2001, and letter and email exchange, September 2001–December 2002.
‘What she related’: William Trevor, Excursions, p. 116.
‘very innovative’: Angela Landels, interview in London, October 2001.
‘Burmese ceremonial dagger’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
‘How dare he’: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
‘original entertaining mind’: Julia Matcham, interview in London, September 2001, and letter and email exchange, September 2001–December 2002.
‘somebody’s secretary’: William Trevor, Excursion, p. 115.
‘no note attached’: RL, interview in Canada, June 2002, and email exchange, July 2002–June 2003.
decided to move: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
draw a map: TH Papers, Emory.
‘too slow and polite’: SP–AP, a letter, 13 August 1961, Letters Home: Correspondence, Faber and Faber, 1999.
‘we got on with them’: DW, interview in Texas, Novem
ber 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
handcraft snake: Judith Kroll, email to the authors, 11 October 2004.
‘indifferent to the occult’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘very attractive, intelligent’: SP–AP, letter, 14 May, 1962, Letters Home.
the couples corresponded: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘recommended David Wevill’: TH–Price Turner, a letter, 5 April 1962, Emory.
‘many-blooded beauty’ etc: TH. ‘Dreamers’, in Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, pp. 1145–1946.
Nine: A Fateful Meeting
Antonioni, Bergman and Fellini: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
wanted to die young: Angela Landels, interview in London, October 2001.
‘a glorious poetic pair’: Fay Weldon. Auto da Fay, p. 350.
‘Sophia Lauren … Scott Fitzgerald people: William Trevor. Excursions, p. 115.
Among the guests: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘We were equals’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘intolerable similarities’: Al Alvarez, ‘Sylvia Plath: A Memoir’, in Ariel Ascending, Paul Alexander, ed. New York, Harper & Row, 1985, p. 193.
prisoner: LM, Crow Steered, Bergs Appeared, p. 77.
‘to have several couples’: SP–AP, a letter, 16 April 1962, Letters Home.
avoided looking: Ruth Fainlight, ‘Sylvia and Jane’, Times Literary Supplement, 12 December 2003.
‘has gone off’: SP, ‘Elm’, Ariel: The Restored Text, Faber and Faber, 2005, p. 27.
‘Plath was detecting’: Diane Wood Middlebrook, Her Husband: Hughes and Plath – A Marriage. New York, Viking, pp. 161–2.
‘I’m going to seduce Ted’: Angela Landels, interview in London, October 2001.
in a negligée: Paul Alexander, Rough Magic, New York, Da Capo, 1999, p. 277.
‘beef stew’: SP calendar, Smith.
took the train: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘hideous grass: AW’s diary, 12 August 1963, in private hands.
‘the gaze of a demon’: TH, ‘Dreamers’, in Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, p. 1146.