Doom of Exiles
126 “In late August . . .”: The unpublished letters in this paragraph are at Indiana and Smith. 127 “ ‘Talking to you makes living worthwhile. . . .’ ”: Gordon Lameyer allowed me to read his unpublished manuscript, Dear Sylvia. The quote is from that manuscript. 128 “ ‘The symptoms suggest an acute. . .’ ”: Donald McPherson’s letter was provided to me by Prouty’s daughter. 129 “ ‘Unfortunately the shock treatments .. .’ ”: Prouty’s letter was provided to me by her daughter. 130 “ ‘She wouldn’t talk. . . .’ ”: From my interviews with Ruth Barnhouse. 131 “ ‘Sylvia had lost touch with words. . .’ ”: From my interview with Wilbury Crockett. 131 “Sylvia had complained about ‘the long . . .’ ”: Prouty’s letter was provided to me by her daughter. 132 “ ‘She continues getting . . .’ ”: Paul Howard’s letter to Prouty was provided to me by Prouty’s daughter. 133 “ ‘I usually find Sylvia wandering . . .’ ”: Prouty’s letter was provided to me by her daughter. 133 “ ‘There are things about. . .’ ”: Franklin Wood’s letter to Prouty was provided to me by Prouty’s daughter. 134 “ ‘I convinced her that she had to. . .’ ”: From my interviews with Barnhouse. 134 “ ‘The fact is they . . .’ ”: Prouty’s letter was provided to me by Prouty’s daughter. 134 “It was not the first time . . .”: The information in this paragraph comes from my interviews with McCurdy and from Plath’s letters to McCurdy at Smith. 136 “As for her concern about . . .”: From a letter written to me by Kenneth Wright. 137 “ ‘A brief expedition into . . .’ ”: A Closer Look at Ariel (hereafter cited as Closer Look) by Nancy Hunter Steiner (New York, Harper s Magazine Press, 1973), p. 44. 138 “ ‘She talked freely about her fathers death . . .’ ”: Ibid., p. 45. 138 “ ‘When I was writing you . . .’ ”: Cohen’s unpublished letters. 140 “ ‘I suggest, flatly . . .’ ”: Ibid. 141 “ ‘How much free–lancing will you . . .’ ”: Ibid. 142 “A philosophy major . . .”: Melvin Woody’s unpublished letter to Plath is at Indiana. 143 “When Sylvia arrived home . . .”: Some information in this paragraph is based on Closer Look. 146 “Up to that point . . .”: The information in the next three paragraphs is based in part on Closer Look. 147 “When Gordon returned from Virginia . . .”: The information for the rest of this paragraph is taken from my interview with Lameyer. 148 “ ‘The teacher can help the student . . .’ ”: “The Neilson Professor” by Sylvia Plath, The Smith Alumnae Quarterly, Fall 1954, p. 12. 149 “ ‘[Kazin] told me it’s my . . .’ ”: “Letters from Sylvia” by Sylvia Plath, The Smith Alumnae Quarterly, February 1976, p. 3. 149 “ ‘Although I know you are not thinking . . .’ ”: Dear Sylvia. 150 “ ‘Worst, what no woman . . .’ ”: Richard Sassoon’s unpublished letters to Plath are at Indiana. 150 “Also, beginning in December . . .”: Plath’s letters of recommendation from Mary Ellen Chase, Elizabeth Drew, Alfred Kazin, George Gibian, Ruth Barnhouse, and Estella Kelsey are at Smith. 153 “ ‘Do not think I am scolding. . .’ ”: Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 155 “Beginning the ceremony. . .”: Marianne Moore’s quotes are taken from “Judges Hear Glascock Poetry Contestants” by Mary Handy, The Christian Science Monitor, April 18, 1955, p. 2.155 “ ‘[Moore] commends your spirit.. .’ ”: The unpublished letter from the Glascock committee is at Indiana. 157 “ ‘[Y]ou will torture tonight!. . Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 158 “When she wrote to Lynne Lawner .. .”: “Nine Letters to Lynne Lawner” by Sylvia Plath, Antaeus, Winter 1978, p. 31.158 “ ‘[M]y love lies in waiting . . . ’ ”: Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 159 “ ‘I think we were in a condition of mind . . .’ ”: From a letter written to me by Longsworth. 160 “ ‘I have taken all you had to give . . .’ ”: Dear Sylvia. 160 “ ‘I and the sky are both . . .’ ”: Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 160 “ ‘It’s an awfully long time . . .’ ”: Ibid. 161 “ ‘I hope to see. . .’ ”: Antaeus, p. 32. 161 “ ‘At last a whiff of perfume . . .’ ”: Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 161 “ ‘I want . . . very much . . .’ ”: Ibid. 161 “ ‘Darling, darling, thank you . . . Ibid. 162 “ ‘I tried very hard. . .’ ”: Ibid. 162 “ ‘I do not believe . . .’ ”: Ibid. 162 “But the high point of the week . . .”: The information about Plath’s affair with Peter Davison comes from my interviews with him. 164 “ ‘I was far less impressed . . .’ ”: “Peter Davison,” Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series (Detroit, Gale Research Company, 1986), p. 134. 164 “She ‘spoke in such a way . . .’ ”: Ibid.
Abroad
167 “Venturing out . . .”: Plath’s quote is from LH, p. 185. 169 “As they strolled between . . .”: Plath’s quotes are from LH, p. 191. 173 “ ‘Rarely have I felt . . . ’ ”: “Gone, Very Gone Youth” by Jane Baltzell Kopp, Sylvia Plath: The Woman and the Work, edited by Edward Butscher (New York, Dodd Mead, 1977), p. 70. 174 “Slowly Sylvia entered and ‘in the heart . . .’ ”: LH, p. 205. 176 “ ‘Wanted to burst out in tears . . .’ ”: J, p. 109. 176 “ ‘And I cry so to be . . .’ ”: J, p. 100. 178 “By the time they reached . . .”: The information in this paragraph comes from Plath’s published and unpublished journals, from my interviews with Bertram Wyatt–Brown, and from my correspondence with Lucas Myers. 178 “Then, as Sylvia would later write . . .”: Plath’s quotes in this paragraph come from J, p. 111. 179 “Now, Sylvia began quoting . . .”: The information in the next two paragraphs comes from Plath’s published and unpublished journals. 181 “Daniel Huws, ‘just over six feet . . .’ ”: “Ah, Youth . . . Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath at Cambridge and After” by Lucas Myers, an appendix in Bitter Fame by Anne Stevenson (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1989), p. 308. 181 “. . . Daniel Weissbort, an American . . .”: The phrase “only slightly fictionalized” comes from a letter written to me by Weissbort. 181 “In the story, the narrators psychiatrist . . .”: Weissbort provided me with his unpublished story. 181 “ ‘He was an inch or so taller. . .’ ”: Bitter Fame, p. 308. 182 “ ‘In a very vehement and dreadful way . . .’ ”: The Woman and the Work, p. 72. 183 “ ‘[I]t hurts, Father . . .’ ”: J, p. 123. 183 “ ‘I rail and rage . . .’ ”: J, p. 128. 184 “Before she could go to Europe . . .”: The information in this paragraph comes from Plath’s unpublished journal and day–to–day calendar. 185 “On April 4, Gordon arrived . . .”: The information in the next three paragraphs comes in part from Dear Sylvia and my interviews with Lameyer. 187 “And, as bookends . . .”: Plath’s quotes about Hughes come from LH. 188 “She implored Aurelia . . .”: Plath’s quotes come from LH, p. 239. 189 “ ‘Sylvia was extraordinarily modest. . .’ ”: “Recollections of Sylvia Plath” by Dorothea Krook, The Woman and the Work, p. 54. 189 “ ‘I can see you are going through . . .’ ”: Prouty’s unpublished letter to Plath is at Indiana. 193 “ ‘Every evening at dusk the lights. . .’ ”: “Sketchbook of a Spanish Summer” by Sylvia Plath, The Christian Science Monitor, November 15, 1956, p. 15. 194 “Only one episode, in Sylvia’s account . . .”: The information for this paragraph comes from my interviews with a confidential source. 195 “Over time, Sylvia learned. . .”: The information in this paragraph comes from Bitter Fame, my trip to Yorkshire, and my interviews with Olwyn Hughes. 197 “Plath’s letters indicate . . .”: The information and quotes in the next three paragraphs are taken from my interviews with Kenneth Pitchford. Plath’s reference to abortion appears in an unpublished portion of her journal entry for January 4, 1958. The journal is at Smith. 201 “ ‘There is really no reason for me .. .’ ”: Sassoon’s unpublished letters. 202 “While Plath waited for Smith’s . . .”: From J, pp. 156–7. 203 “ ‘I am more happy than if. . .’ ”: LH, p. 297. 203 “ ‘The only difficulty facing us . . .’ ”: John Bleibtreu’s unpublished letters are in the Buttenweiser Library at the Ninety–second Street Y in New York. 205 “ ‘I [bike] home for lunch between . . .’ ”: Antaeus, p. 33.
Fixed Stars
209 “ ‘Last night I felt. . .’ ”: J, pp. 175–8. 210 “To help divert her mind . . .”: The information about the Roche–Hughes friendship comes in part from my interviews with Clarissa Roche and Paul Roche. 211 “ ‘Paul and I saw Ted a
nd Sylvia . . .’ ”: “Sylvia Plath: Vignettes from England” by Clarissa Roche, The Woman and the Work, p. 81.211“ ‘I have been exhausted, frustrated.. .’ ”: Antaeus, p. 41. 212 “ ‘If I fainted . . .’ ”: J, p. 179. 212 “ ‘[Hughes] would be seen walking . . .’ ”: From an unpublished interview conducted with Lee Camp by Ron Smith. Camp provided me with the interview. 214 “In February, Plath’s publishing . . .”: “Spinster” by Sylvia Plath, The Smith Alumnae Quarterly, Winter 1958, p. 71. 215 “In one journal entry, she recorded . . .”: From Plath’s unpublished journals at Smith. 215 “ ‘Frombeing the proudboast. . .’ ”: New York Jew by Alfred Kazin (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), p. 227. 216 “. . . Plath listed in her journal . . .”: J, p. 211–12. 217 “Whereas many publish . . .”: J, p. 200. 218 “Then he stopped and glared . . .”: From J, p. 219. 219 “When she approached the couple . . .”: The information in this paragraph is from Plath’s published and unpublished journals. 219 “Yet she would not jump out . . .’ ”: J, p. 233. 219 “ ‘I got hit . . .’ ”: J, p. 235. 221 “Certain phrases caught her eyes . . .”: Howard Moss’s unpublished letters to Plath are at Smith. 221 “At the end of June . . .”: From J, p. 240. 222 “ ‘And perhaps even those who have . . .’ ”: “Beach Plum Season on Cape Cod” by Sylvia Plath, The Christian Science Monitor, August 14, 1958, p. 17. 223 “ ‘Two rooms, each with . . .’ ”: Antaeus, p. 41. 224 “From the first session, Barn–house . . .”: The information in the next three paragraphs comes from Plath’s published and unpublished journals and from my interviews with Barnhouse. 225 “In mid–December, she and Ted. . .”: The information about Truman Capote comes from Capote by Gerald Clarke (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1988). The information about Hughes comes from Plath’s published and unpublished journals. 226 “ ‘Isn’t this an image . . .’ ”: J, p. 279. 226 “ ‘It was a look that didn’t. . .’ ”: From a letter written to me by Lucie McKee. 227 “The article focused on the . . .”: “Four Young Poets” by Corinne Robins, Mademoiselle 48, January 1959, pp. 34–5, 85. 229 “She would reject the ‘Feminine (horror) . . .’ ”: Antaeus, p. 45. 229 “ ‘Felt cheated . . .’ ”: J, p. 299. 230 “On the day Plath finished . . .”: Plath’s quote is from J, p. 301. 231 “‘I would always park illegally . . .’ ”: “The Barfly Ought to Sing” by Anne Sexton, Ariel Ascending: Writings About Sylvia Plath, edited by Paul Alexander (New York, Harper and Row, 1985), pp. 178–9. 233 “ ‘I would very much like to have you . . .’ ”: Emilie McLeod’s unpublished letters to Plath are at The Atlantic Monthly Press. 233 “ ‘I was grateful as a puppy . . .’ ”: Contemporary Authors Autobiography, p. 137. 235 “ ‘It is amazing . . .’ ”: LH, p. 352. 235 “Along the way, they stopped . . .”: The information about Plath and Hughes’s stop in Sewanee, Tennessee, comes from my interview with Monroe Spears. 235 “ ‘[I]t seems to me . . .’ ”: Spears’s unpublished letters to Plath were provided to me by the Sewanee Review. 235 “ ‘I’m sorry there has been such . . .’ ”: McLeod’s unpublished letters. 236 “In early September. . . “: The description of Yaddo comes from my interviews with Grace Schulman and Frances Kiernan. 237 “ ‘Despite the strength of her poetry . . .’ ”: From my interview with Sonia Raiziss. 238 “ ‘Seeing two new poems of yours . . .’ ”: James Michie’s unpublished letters to Plath are at Smith. 239 “ ‘In its double focus . . .’ ”: “Sylvia Plath and Her Journals” by Ted Hughes, Ariel Ascending, p. 158. 239 “Reviewing the book . . .”: “Poetry as Confession” by M. L. Rosenthal, The Nation 190, September 19, 1959, pp. 154–5. 240 “Marilyn Monroe came to her . . .”: J, p. 319. 240 “ ‘On the day they left . . .’ ”: LH, p. 356.
England
243 “To Plath, who wrote . . .”: Plath’s quote is from Antaeus, p. 48. 243 “ ‘She had this feeling of being superior . . .’ ”: From my interview with Anne Stevenson. 244 “ ‘I like your poems . . .’ ”: From Michie’s unpublished letters. 244 “She had suffered nothing but . . .”: Antaeus, p. 49. 246 “It was Otto’s sister Frieda . . .”: Plath’s quote comes from LH, p. 352. 247 “Because she now saw herself. . .”: Antaeus, p. 50. 251 “ ‘Miss Plath neither asks . . .’ ”: “The Poet and the Poetess” by A. Alvarez, The Observer, December 18,1960, p. 21. 252 “Sylvia and Ted’s week . . .”: The information in the next three paragraphs comes from Plath’s published and unpublished letters to her mother, from Bitter Fame, and from my interviews with Olwyn Hughes. 253 “ ‘Sylvia Plath writes clever . . .’ ”: “Farewell to the World” by John Wain, The Spectator 206, January 13, 1961, p. 50. 254 “ ‘This girl is a poet . . .’ ”: Judith Jones’s Knopf correspondence, including her letters to Plath, is in the Harry Ransom Research Center at the University of Texas. 255 “On the 5th, in response . . .”: Plath’s letters to Anne Sexton are in the Sexton archive at Texas. 257 “ ‘The language of this poetry .. .’ ”: Untitled review by Roy Fuller, The London Magazine, March 1961, pp. 69–70. 257 “ ‘Miss Plath . . . is unusually . . .’ ”: Untitled review by Howard Sergeant, English 13, Spring 1961, pp. 156–8. 259 “ ‘One reason . . . that we . . .’ ”: Jones’s unpublished letters. 259 “On April 26, in a letter . . .”: Plath’s unpublished letter to Kazin is at the New York Public Library. 260 “ ‘ALFRED KNOPF will publish.. .’ ”: LH, p. 417. 261 “ ‘The Colossus is a volume . . .’ ”: Untitled review by A. E. Dyson, Critical Quarterly, Summer 1961, pp. 181–5. 264 “ ‘Miss Plath tench to be . . .’ ”: “Innocence and Experience,” The Times Literary Supplement, August 18, 1961, p. 550. 264 “Next, they called . . .”: The phrases “a young Canadian poet” and “German–Russian” are from LH, p. 423. 267 “To reassure her mother.. .”: From LH, p. 437. 269 “Finally, when Sylvia . . .”: From LH, p. 443. 270 “Ted’s coldness towards Nicholas . . .”: Hughes’s reaction to his son is recorded at length in unpublished letters from Plath to her mother, at Indiana. 270 “ ‘The poet’s only hope . . .’ ”: “Context” by Ted Hughes, The London Magazine, February 1962, pp. 44–5.270 “ ‘The issues ofourtime.. .’ ”: “Context” by Sylvia Plath, ibid., pp. 45–6. 271 “ ‘Poems should be criticized . . .’ ”: From “The Tranquilized Fifties” by E. Lucas Myers, Sewanee Review 70, Spring 1962, pp. 212–20.
The Bitter Season
275 “In early May, the Hugheses . . .”: The information about the Sillitoes’ visit to Court Green is based on my interview with Ruth Fainlight. 279 “ ‘This is the richest and happiest. . .’ ”: LH, p. 455. 279 “ ‘Keith Douglas was born . . .’ ”: “The Poetry of Keith Douglas” by Ted Hughes, “Third Programme,” BBC, May 31, 1962. 279 “Before that, Sylvia saw Alvarez . . .”: The information in this paragraph comes from my interview with Alvarez and from “Prologue,” The Savage God by A. Alvarez (New York, Random House, 1972). 280 “ ‘I’m writing again . . .’ ”: Savage God, p. 13. 280 “ ‘No longer quiet and withheld . . .’ ”: Ibid. 280 “ ‘The welcome I received . . .’ ”: LH, p. 458. 282 “ ‘This was a joyous book . . .’ ”: From Aurelia Plath’s unpublished commentary for LH. 283 “ ‘I have everything in life . . .’ ”: LH, p. 458. 283 “ ‘[T]he marriage was seriously troubled. . .’ ”: Aurelia Plath’s unpublished commentary to LH. 284 “ ‘Then suddenly, late one . . .’ ”: “Sylvia in Devon: 1962” by Elizabeth Sigmund, The Woman and the Work, p. 104. 286 “On still another occasion. . .”: The information in this paragraph is based in part on my interviews with Clarissa Roche. Plath told Roche that the name “Dido” was written on the charred scrap of paper, not “A———,” as appeared in Roche’s memoir in The Woman and the Work. According to Roche, Butscher changed the name from “Dido” to “A————without her knowledge—to make the scene more dramatic. 287 “ ‘They seem to me the best. . .’ ”: Alvarez’s unpublished letter to Plath is at Smith. 287 “ ‘When I left . . . the four of them .. .’ ”: LH, p. 458. 288 “In Devon on August 21 . . .”: Plath’s unpublished letters to Sexton. 289 “ ‘I hope you will not be . . .’ ”: LH, p. 460. 289 “If Ted preferred this other woman . . .”: From Plath’s unpublished letters at Indiana.
Rough Magic Page 45