by Yehuda Koren
unaware of her magnetism: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
commonly shared their dreams: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
air rifles: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘Sunlight’: TH Papers, Emory.
appear to recreate: Diane Wood Middlebrook, Her Husband, p. 166.
a fishing trip: TH/SP–Gerald Hughes, letter, 19 May 1962, Lily.
‘ghastly children’: SP–AP, a letter, 16 April 1962, Letters Home.
‘On Sunday morning: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
attractive college student: Elaine Feinstein, Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001, p. 85.
Moira Doolan: ibid, p. 109
Dido Merwin: ibid, p. 101.
not yet sixteen: Nicola Tyrer, Daily Mail, 5 February 2004.
‘Assia is a figure’: Erica Wagner, Ariel’s Gift, Faber and Faber, 2000, p. 163.
tuning in every Monday: SP calendar, Smith.
‘the richest and happiest time’: SP–AP, letter, 7 June 1962, Letters Home.
‘solid and complete’: Al Alvarez, Ariel Ascending, p. 192.
‘Difficulties of a Bridegroom’: TH Papers, Emory.
‘My dear Sylvia’: AW–SP, a letter, 22 May 1962, British Library.
attest to her generoisity: Mira Hamermesh, interview in London, October 2001.
‘Wonderfully calming’: SP–AP, a letter, 7 June 1962, Letters Home.
‘the seven treasures of Asia’: TH, ‘Folktale’, in Capriccio, Collected Poems, p. 788.
bee stings: Elaine Feinstein, Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet, p. 125.
Ten: An Illicit Affair
to be at the BBC: TH Papers, Emory.
Suzette Macedo recalls: Elaine Feinstein, Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet, p. 124.
freshly cut grass: William Trevor, Excursions, p. 117.
Hughes recollects: TH, ‘Chlorophyl’, in Capriccio, Collected Poems, p. 799.
Ted’s romantic gesture: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
revisted London: SP calendar, Smith.
‘We met for tea!’: William Trevor, Excursions, p. 118.
a black cashmere sweater: AP, Letters Home, draft notes, Lilly.
‘Words Heard, by Accident, Over the Phone’: SP, Collected Poems, Faber and Faber, 1981.
‘The Fearful’: ibid.
‘Do Not Pick Up the Telephone’: TH, Collected Poems, p. 585.
‘thought that perhaps’: AP, Letters Home, draft notes, Lilly.
‘Well, I don’t know’: ibid.
‘Ted had been having an affair’: ibid.
bonfire: ibid.
the tapestry remained: Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund, interview in England, August 2001, and subsequent email exchange, September–December 2001.
Ted set himself up: Al Alvarez, interview in London, September 2001.
he was in love: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
four bottles of champagne: ibid.
Ted’s ferocious lovemaking: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
their first lovemaking: TH, ‘Capriccios’, in Cappriccio, Collected Poems, p. 783, and ‘Superstitions’, in Howls and Whispers, Collected Poems, p. 1183.
‘18 Rugby Street’: TH, Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, p. 1055.
At 8.30 p.m.: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
Seconal sleeping pills: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and DW short story, ‘Four Days’ in Casual Ties. Prose Sketches, USA, Curbstone Press, 1986.
‘lying so sweetly’: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
‘If you come near my wife’: ibid.
‘straightest man in the world’: ibid.
Ted had raped her: Royston Taylor, email exchange, November 2001–February 2002.
‘Body of a Rook’: DW, Birth of a Shark, Toronto, Macmillan, 1964, p. 7.
unable to write: The Tarn Papers, Stnaford.
‘a slinky affair’: ibid.
‘Sylvia wanted to find out’: Al Alvarez, Where Did It All Go Right? Richard Cohen Books, 1999, p. 206.
Alvarez was attracted to Assia: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
‘made a pass’: Al Alvarez, Where Did It All Go Right?, p. 209.
Her colleagues covered for her: Edward Lucie-Smith, interview in London, October 2001, and email exchange, December 2001–August 2003.
preparing for a date: Angela Landels, interview in London, October 2001.
On one occasion: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
locked in a passionate kiss: Patricia Mendelson, interview in London, September 2001.
‘lyrical and yielding’: Philip Hobsbaum, email exchange, October 2001–May 2003.
‘Sylvia is so intense!’: Prouty-Smith–TH, a letter, 14 June 1975, TH papers, Emory.
tried to help: TH–Prouty-Smith, a letter, 12 May 1975, TH papers, Emory.
opened a bank account: a letter from Barclays Bank, 20 High Street, Exeter, August 1962, TH papers, Emory.
‘a part of Assia’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
Tarn got the impression: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
In the visitors’ book: Richard Murphy, The Kick, A Memoir, Granta Books, 2002, p. 222.
grouse shooting: SP–AP, 23 September 1962. Lilly. The paragraph was omitted from Letters Home.
‘a fascination with violence: Barrie Cooke, ‘With Ted Hughes’, in The Epic Poise, A Celebration of Ted Hughes, Nick Gammage, ed., Faber and Faber, 1999, p. 214.
Cooke had no telephone: Barrie Cooke, telephone interview in November 2002 and March 2004.
‘We lay on our backs’: Barrie Cooke, ‘With Ted Hughes’, in The Epic Poise, p. 214.
Murphy insisted: Richard Murphy, The Kick, p. 227.
she found a telegram: SP–AP, 23 September 1962. Lilly. The paragraph was omitted from Letters Home.
had no idea where her husband was: SP to Kathy Kane, letter, 29 September 1962. Lilly.
Eleven: Leaving Plath
‘she met this fabulous man’: CC, interview in Canada, May–June 2002, and subsequent emails, letters and telephone calls, July 2002–April 2006.
film script: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
Wevill never suspected: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘In a pub in Boppard’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
dependent on Hughes: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
‘a hag’: ibid.
attempted suicide: SP–AP, letter, 16 October 1962, Lilly.
‘Your absence is huge’: TH, ‘Sunlight’, unpublished, Emory.
correspondent [sic] in a divorce suit: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
marry his mistress: SP–Olive Prouty, letter, 18 October 1962, Lilly.
perfect husband: SP–Warren Plath, letter, 18 October 1962, Lilly. And also, SP–Mrs Prouty, a letter, 18 October 1962.
‘writing and motherhood’: SP–AP, letter, 21 October 1962, Lilly.
‘not creative’: ibid.
‘high salary’: SP–AP, letter, 7 November 1962, Lilly.
‘causing damage to his car’: SP–AP, letter, 24 September 1962, Lilly. Omitted from Letters Home.
‘I think I may well be a Jew’: SP, ‘Daddy’, Ariel, The Restored Text.
‘in an orphanage’: SP–Olive Prouty, letter, 18 October 1962, Lilly.
‘to read this book’: Dr Ruth Beuscher–SP, a letter, 26 September 1962, Smith.
‘she underlined’: Plath’s copy of Fromm’s The Art of Loving is in TH Papers, Emory.
‘death-ray quality’: TH–GH, letter, undated, Emory.
‘We didn’t w
ant our marriage to end’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘Our Lady of Kovno’: LM, Crow Steered, Bergs Appeared, p. 129.
asked Peter Porter: Peter Porter, ‘Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath’, Australian Book Review, August 2001, p. 25.
‘witched herself into that building’: Ben Sonnenberg, ‘Ted’s Spell’, Raritan 21, no. 4, spring 2002.
14 Highbury Place: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
cut-price stores: SP–Olive Prouty, letter, 15 December 1962, Lilly.
‘Amnesiac’: SP, Ariel, The Restored Text.
Doubletake: SP–Olive Prouty, letter 20 November 1962, Lilly.
she met Assia: Olwyn Hughes, letter exchange with the authors, August 2002–June 2003.
‘someone else’: TH–AP, letter, 12 January 1975, Emory.
‘Bloody Christmas’: AW–CC, letter, 18 December 1962, in private hands.
broadcast by the BBC: radio play text is at Emory.
‘The Inscription’: TH, Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, p. 1154.
‘The Assia saga is doing alright’: TH–Olwyn Hughes, letter, undated, Olwyn Hughes Papers, Emory.
Assia’s best wishes: TH–the Merwins, letter, 21 January 1963, Emory.
Twelve: The Shadow of Suicide
She called Suzette Macedo: Macedo, telephone conversation with the authors, London, 5 October 2001.
‘Something terrible has happened’: Julia Matcham, interview in London, September 2001, and letter and email exchange, September 2001–December 2002.
Susan Alliston: David Ross, interview in London, March 2003.
keeping him away from the telephone: TH, ‘18 Rugby Street’, in Birthday Letters, Collected Poems, pp. 1055–6.
‘reunited in two weeks’: LM, Crow Steered, Bergs Appeared, p. 80.
Assia, feeling nausea: LM, email exchange, November 2001–December 2003.
to be brought up in America: WP–AP, a letter, February 17, 1963. Lilly.
called urgently to Ottawa: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
The children did not ask for their mother: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
‘most incredible’: ibid.
she read Plath’s last journal: ibid.
Hughes admitted that he destroyed it: TH, interview in London, 8 October 1996.
Hughes blamed it on Sylvia’s ‘murderous self’: ibid.
She blamed Sylvia for killing herself: Julia Matcham, interview in London, September 2001, and letter and email exchange, September 2001–December 2002.
‘strikingly beautiful woman’: Ruth Fainlight, ‘Sylvia and Jane’, Times Literary Supplement, 12 December 2003.
‘didn’t like London, the people’: Trevor Thomas, unpublished memoir, 1989.
Hughes implored Assia: TH–AW, letter, 27 March 1963, Emory.
the list of his vices: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
his account of the tragedy: TH–AP, letter, 15 March 1963, Lilly.
Hughes suspected: TH–Keith Sagar, letter, 23 May 1981, British Library.
‘casting a sort of spy ring’: TH–Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund, letter, 26 May 1963, British Library.
‘sad and so bent down’: Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund–AP, a letter, 26 March 1963, Lilly.
no sex between the Wevills: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
‘How can you let that thing chew your breast?’: Royston Taylor, email exchange, November 2001–February 2002.
On Thursday, 21 March 1963: Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund, interview in England, August 2001, and subsequent email exchange, September– December 2001.
an old Polish doctor in Maida Vale: AW–Jannice Porter, a postcard, courtesy of Peter Porter.
‘what do you want?’: AW, TH Papers, Emory.
he was careful not to present his love: TH–AW, letter, 27 March 1963, Emory.
the red exercise book: AW’s Diary, in private hands.
‘Babylonian beauty’: Richard Murphy, The Kick, p. 229.
‘no footsteps were being followed’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘attacked each other like cats’: The Tarn Papers, Stanford.
a hundred years old: AW’s diary, 19 May 1963, in private hands.
Thirteen: Domesticity
‘There’s a bruise’: AW’s diary, 20 May 1963, in private hands.
Dr Trevor Thomas: Trevor Thomas, Sylvia Plath: Last Encounters, unpublished memoir, 1989, courtesy of Clarissa Roche.
he with sit sideways: AW’s diary, 20 May 1963, in private hands.
three ‘dream-meetings’: ‘The Offers’, in Howls and Whispers, Collected Poems, pp. 1180–83.
‘perfect reversal’: AW’s diary, 1 June 1963, in private hands.
‘madness’: TH–AP, letter, 13 May 1963. Lilly.
‘David. David. Where are you?’: AW’s diary, in private hands.
‘She sent me loving letters: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘We’ve lived in peace for five days’: AW’s diary, 12 June 1963, in private hands.
‘will the queen ever give me an audience’: TH–Elizabeth and David Compton, letter, 31 July 1963, British Library.
Bringing coffee to Ted’s bedroom: AW’s diary, 1 June 1963, in private hands.
instructed Elizabeth Compton: TH–Elizabeth and David Compton, letter, June 1963, British Library.
put flowers on Sylvia’s grave: AW’s diary, 7 June 1963, in private hands.
Mrs Plath was appalled: AP–Dr John Horder, letter, 26 September 1963, Lilly.
‘crime against her’: TH–AP, letter, 13 May 1963, Lilly.
‘big enough for the tribe’: TH–Lm, letter, 28 August 1963, Emory.
‘six macacos’: AW’s diary, 12 August 1963, in private hands.
‘Assia was stunningly beautiful’: Elizabeth (Compton) Sigmund, interview in England, August 2001, and subsequent email exchange, September– December 2001.
‘the Holy Study’: AW’s diary, 12 August 1963, in private hands.
Fourteen: Torn Between Two Lovers
Thomas Mann: the inscribed books are in TH’s library, Emory.
‘The Art of Loving’: Erich Fromm, G Allen & Unwin, 1960. The annotated copy is in TH’s library, Emory.
unable to sleep: AW’s diary, in private hands.
introduced a lodger: Anna (Owen) Bramble, interview in London, October 2001.
She tried to make peace: Trevor Thomas, Sylvia Plath: Last Encounters, unpublished memoir, 1989, courtesy of Clarissa Roche.
‘the evil who had come betwen them’: ibid.
‘a very nice lady’: ibid.
she found a job: Trevor Thomas–AP, letter, 27 April 1976, Lilly.
‘living with that lady’: Dr John Horder–AP, letter, 30 September 1963, Lilly.
‘the lady-love’: Winifred Davies–AP, letter, 19 November 19633, Lilly.
‘Madame Asya’: Jillian Becker–AP, letter, 11 November 1963, Lilly.
Elizabeth Compton cease writing: Winifred Davies–AP, letter, 19 November 1963, Lilly.
‘there is at least a rumour’: Dr John Horder–AP, letter, 17 October 1963, Lilly.
‘stupid friendship’: TH–AW, letter, 3 October 1963, Emory.
Ivan the Terrible: Sergei Eisenstein, Secker and Warburg, 1963. The inscribed book is in TH’s library, Emory.
Four Screenplays: Ingmar Bergman, Simon and Schuster, 1960. The inscribed book is in TH’s library, Emory.
London Magazine Poems, 1961–1966: selected by Hugo Williams, Alan Ross, 1966. The inscribed book is in Woodruff Special Collections, Emory.
Wodwo: TH, Harper & Row, 1967. The inscribed book is in TH’s library, Emory.
The Letters of William Blake: Geoffrey Keynes, ed., Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968. The inscribed book is in TH’s library, Emory.
Assia never came for a visit: LM, email exc
hange, November 2001–December 2003.
his friends’ generosity: David Ross, interview in London, March 2003.
‘feral beauty’: Ben Sonnenberg, email exchange, August 2002.
Ottoline – the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell: Robert Gathorne-Hardy, ed, Faber and Faber, 1963. The inscribed book is in TH’s library, Emory.
‘She was very frank’: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘gorgeous English girl’: Susan Alliston Project, typescript of introduction by TH, The Weissbort Papers, TH Papers, Emory.
it is clear that she knew: SP–AP, letter, 22 November 1963, Lilly.
‘their relationship’: LM, email exchange, November 2001–December 2003.
‘our friendship took’: Susan Alliston Project, typescript of introduction by TH, The Weissbort Papers, TH Papers, Emory.
‘my future is blanked with you’: AW–TH, letter, 22 January 1964, Emory.
Hughes’s letters: TH–AW, different dates, Emory.
‘… ovenfox’, ‘my lovely owl of halva …: all these terms of endearment appear together in one letter, TH–AW, 18 February 1964, Emory.
post office box: LM, email exchange, November 2001–December 2003.
Gaudette: TH draft of the text is in Emory.
Kafka: TH–AW, letter, 19 February 1964, Emory.
a film treatment: TH–AW, letter, 11 February 1964, Emory.
‘our sage’: TH–AW, letter, 3 January 1964, Emory.
Selected Tales of Ivan Turgenev: Anchor Books, 1960. AW’s copy of the book, in private hands.
Birth of a Shark: DW, Birth of a Shark.
his photograph: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
‘I prefer to have one person’: Peter Orr, The Poet Speaks.
‘rather busy’: Olwyn Hughes, Sunday Times, a letter, 21 May 1964, Emory.
‘she has serious identity problems’: Anne (Adams) Alvarez, interview in London, October 2001.
he flew to Ottawa: DW, interview in Texas, November 2003, and email exchange, September 2002–December 2005.
rented a room: TH expenditure report, 1 December 1964, TH Papers, Emory.
David was sleeping on the couch: LM, email exchange, November 2001– December 2003.
Myers noticed a book: LM, Crow Steered, Bergs Appeared, p. 128.
‘I knew it was Ted’s child’: LM, email exchange, November 2001–December 2003.