by Sylvia Plath
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, Heather Clark, Rosemary Clark; Vanessa Cook, Diane Demko, Suzanne Demko, Joseph J. Feeney, SJ, Gunnar Fernlund, Amanda Ferrara, Susan France, Peter Fydler, Andre Gailani, Sarah George-Waterfield, Sara Georgini, Jonathan Glover, Alix de Gramont, Kelly Holbert, Eric Homberger, Richard Honan, Shaun Kelly, An Kieu, Jocelyne Kolb, Barbara F. Kozash, Arthur Languirand, Richard Larschan, Jane Lawrence, Carol Lewis, Maria R. Lichtmann, Annika J. Lindskog, Kim Maddever, Ann Safford Mandel, Sherry Marker, Laura Anderson Martino, Lisa Matchett, Gesa Matthies, Aubrey Menard, Mark Morford, Catherine Morgan, Maeve O’Brien, Kevin O’Donnell, Laura de la Paz Rico, Cornelia Pearsall, Hannah Piercy, Neil Roberts, Carl Rollyson, Angelyn Singer, Ann Skea, Tristine Skyler, Nick Smart, 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 David Higham Associates Limited, New Directions Publishing Corporation, and Oberon Books 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: Robin Bilardello, Tina Andreadis, Tom Hopke, Cindy Achar, and Laura Brown.
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 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 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 co-editor, 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
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1-2-3 Go, 77
55 Short Stories from the New Yorker, 525
Aaron, Daniel, 824n
Abbott, Christine, 897n, 1266, 1272, 1286
Abels, Cyrilly, 463, 631–3, 636–7, 639, 671, 684, 717, 719, 835, 880, 899, 901, 933
Academy of American Poets, 929, 934, 1135, 1260
Academy of Music (Northampton, Mass.), 209n, 275n, 401n, 550n
Acapulco, Mexico, 658
Acker, Charles, Jr, 907n
Acker, Mrs (piano teacher), 7
Adams, Phoebe Lou, 907n
Adams, Sarah Flower, 75n
‘A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge’ [review of Bartholomew Fair by Ben Jonson], 1025n
Addams, Charles, 420, 792, 1016
Addenbrooke’s Hospital (Cambridge, UK), 1095, 1142, 1144, 1147, 1152
‘Adeste Fidelels’ (‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’), 1030, 1040, 1050
Aeschylus, 1085, 1092, 1098
Aesop, 1314
Africa, 251, 287, 662, 853, 866, 874, 1038, 1041, 1055, 1068, 1104, 1154, 1223
Afro-Americans, 164, 167, 234, 415, 427, 469, 508, 536, 556, 680, 692, 998, 1002, 1012, 1041, 1043, 1048, 1056–8, 1064, 1085, 1105, 1255
‘Aiken Drum’ (quotation from), 1039n
Akron, Ohio, 749, 754, 1260
Akutowicz, Edwin James, 783n, 830
Alabama, 530
Alaska, 820
Albany, New York, 924, 927
Alcoholics Anonymous, 269 Aldrich, Amy, 308n
Aldrich, Ann, 308n, 773, 777, 793
Aldrich, C. Duane, 308n, 573, 670, 1188–9
Aldrich, Elizabeth (‘Libby’), 308n, 777, 793, 848, 1197
Aldrich, Elizabeth Cannon (‘Betty’), 308, 412, 670, 721, 767–8, 773, 777, 793, 940, 943, 978, 1115, 1188–9, 1204, 1299
Aldrich, Peter, 308n, 793
Aldrich, Richard, 485
Aldrich, Virginia C. (‘Ginny’), 940
Aldrich, Winthrop W. (Winthrop Williams), 962n
Aldrich family, 308n, 849, 1204, 1289
Alexander, Margaret, 961n, 1308
Alexandra House, 1266
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 463
Algren, Nelson, 391–3, 1120; Chicago: City on the Make, 391; The Man with the Golden Arm, 1120
Alicante, Spain, 1215, 1217, 1221–2, 1225, 1235, 1238–9
Alice L. Phillips Junior High School (Wellesley, Mass.), 24n, 77n, 86n, 297
All about Eve (motion picture), 263, 271
Allen, Grace Marjorie, 1296n
Allen, Mel, 641–2
Allen, Stookie, 288n; ‘Teen-Age Triumphs’, 287, 288n, 292
Allison, David, 968n
Alpert, Hollis, ‘The Partition’, 449n
‘Alpha-Phi Society Presents Awards, Names New Members’, 911n
Alps, 134, 905, 942, 1001, 1101
Alps, Austrian, 978, 1160
Alps, Italian, 1073, 1088, 1105
Alsberg, Henry G., 864n
America Sings: Anthology of College Poetry, 526n
American Association of University Women, 809
American Express Company, 1012, 1053, 1055, 1064, 1067, 1082, 1144, 1155, 1158–9, 1170, 1206, 1215, 1238, 1241
American Girl, 30–1
American Whig–Cliosophic Society, 405n Americans, men, 271
Ames, Lois (‘Tooky’), 230, 237, 240
Amherst, Mass., 307, 383, 537, 562–3, 615
Amherst College, 180, 183, 185, 193, 202, 203n, 209–10, 214, 216, 221, 227, 235–6, 245, 248–9, 266, 271, 298n, 418, 560, 600, 650, 657, 668, 671, 678, 684–5, 691, 696, 699, 747, 758–9, 805, 835, 848, 1099, 1195, 1237, 1247–9, 1251, 1288; Chi Psi, 183, 706, 730; Community Chest, 514, 516; Delta Kappa Epsilon, 733; Delta Upsilon, 758; DQ, 203; Kirby Memorial Theater, 899, 995n; Masquers, 899, 948, 995n; Theta Delta Chi, 249; Valentine Hall, 216, 678, 730, 731, 732
Amoore, Derrick, 1004n
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1210
Anderson, Hedli, 1311n, 1312
Anderson, Jane V., 300, 344, 427, 551, 657, 665–6, 1099, 1103; SP’s correspondence with, 693–8, 1149–51
Anderson, Maxwell, 96n; The Bad Seed, 847; Joan of Lorraine, 96
Anderson, Robert, Tea and Sympathy, 906
Anderson, Sherwood, Winesburg, Ohio, 690
Andrews, Dana, 469,
485
Ann, 508
Ann, Cape (Mass.), 336
Annapurna, 603
Anouilh, Jean, 613n, 1157–8, 1204; Invitation to the Castle, 613n; Ornifle, 1157; Waltz of the Toreadors, 1204
Ansky, S., The Dybbuk, 864n, 867, 870, 872–3
Anthony, Louise, 12n
Anthony’s (hairdressers), 834, 836
Arabic language, 895
Arabs, 1057
Arbuthnot, John, 983n, 995
Arc de Triomphe (Paris), 1039, 1066, 1068, 1087, 1232
Aristotle, 812, 976, 1141, 1143, 1191
Arizona, 230, 336
Arnold, Matthew, 105, 976; ‘Dover Beach’ (quotation from), 784
Arrowsmith, Donald Pogue, 375
Arthur Murray Orchestra, 350
Arundel, Jocelyn, see Sladen, Jocelyn Arundel
Arvin, Newton, 674n, 694, 700, 741, 759, 809
Athens, Greece, 1238
Atlantic, 141n, 142, 212, 234, 414, 450, 456, 476, 478, 512, 567, 575, 601–3, 605, 843, 857, 896, 907, 912, 914–18, 920–1, 928–9, 932, 934–6, 944, 948, 974, 998, 1041, 1043, 1048, 058, 1162–3, 1200, 1243, 1245, 1247, 1250, 1253, 1255, 1259, 1261, 1263, 1290, 1297, 1303–4, 1323; SP’s correspondence with, 896; SP’s work in, 928–9, 932, 935–6, 944, 974
Atlantic City, New Jersey, 987
Atlantic Monthly Press, 859n, 1252, 1260, 1279, 1290, 1297, 1299, 1315n, 1329–30
Atomic bomb, 136, 140, 168, 251, 290, 493
Attleboro, Mass., 1111n
Attlee, C. R. (Clement Richard), 1176, 1203, 1252
Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 439, 545–6, 549, 583, 589, 592, 596–7, 601, 604, 615, 628, 654, 663, 681–2, 709, 752, 869, 872, 1035, 1045, 1181, 1259, 1294, 1303, 1311–13; Another Time, 1294n; ‘Balaam and His Ass’, 628n; The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden, 752n; ‘The Epigoni’, 1303n; ‘Lay your sleeping head’ (quotations from), 752n; ‘Merax and Mullin’, 1303n; ‘Miss Gee’, 1294n; ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’, 663, 1035, 1045; ‘Some Reflections of the Comic’, 592n
Audubon, John James, 369
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, 1267, 1273–5, 1278, 1280n, 1284, 1289, 1305; The City of God, 1301, 1305, 1307n; The Confessions of Saint Augustine, 1274, (quotation from) 1280
Aunt Tillie, 294
Australia, 969n, 1161, 1166, 1173, 1180, 1188, 1192, 1194–5, 1203, 1234, 1242, 1256, 1258
Austria, 48, 153, 492, 975, 1104, 1109, 1140, 1152, 1160, 1186, 1190, 1197, 1209, 1233, 1238
Aymé, Marcel, The Count of Clérambard, 961, 964
Babbitt (fictional character: Lewis), 385
Baby Beef, 585
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 982, 1026, 1029, 1040, 1044, 1049, 1058
Bacon, Selden D. (Selden Daksam), ‘Alcoholism: Illness, Evil or Social Pathology’, 706
Bainbridge, Maryland, 936
Baird, Mary Wrenn Morris, Odd Poems, 684n
Baker, Jean, 63
Baker, Lucinda, ‘No Literary Slump for Lucinda’, 954–5
Baldpate Hospital, 695
Baldwin family 557
Baldwin, Shirley, see Norton, Shirley Baldwin
Bali, 599, 640
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, 294
Ballet Variante (choreographic work), 476n, 480, 485
Balsbaugh, Allen, 523
Baltzell, Jane, see Kopp, Jane
Baltzell Barbizon Hotel for Women (New York), 613, 630, 636, 639
Barcelona, Spain, 1240, 1268
Baringer, Richard E., 383n
Barnes, Joan Cantor (‘Joanie’), 468, 470, 472, 474–5, 477–8, 480–2, 485–9, 491–2, 494, 498–502, 766, 845, 1206, 1290, 1325, 1327
Barnes, Patience P., 907n
Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany, see Beuscher, Ruth Barnhouse
Barn-House, The, 949–50, 952
Barrett, A., 985n, 1000, 1004, 1031
Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), The Admirable Crichton, 415, 985–6; Peter Pan, 1194
Barry, Michael, 1316, 1327
Bartók, Béla, 735, 993, 1166
Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc., 642n
Barzun, Jacques, 597, 601
Baseball, 145, 160, 166, 487, 530–1, 534–5, 556–7, 564, 571, 580, 585, 590, 615, 627, 638–9, 641, 648
Bassett Cemetery, 65n
Bates Manufacturing Company, 173, 176
Bates, Mrs (viola teacher), 57
Bathurst, Peter, 969n
Battleship Potemkin (motion picture), 1240
Baudelaire, Charles, 737, 742, 752; Les Fleurs du Mal, 975
Baughman, Richard DeWeese, 696
Baum, L. Frank, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 681
Bay City, Michigan, 41n
Beals, Joan, 24, 52
Bea’s, 339
Belaunde, Victor Andres, 642n
Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, 1073, 1088, 1105
Beaver Country Day School, 474, 600
Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot (stage production), 960, 964, 1013, 1025, 1035, 1057
Bedford College (London), 959, 961, 963
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 143, 356, 427, 537, 993, 1018, 1026, 1040, 1044, 1049, 1058, 1166, 1179, 1261, 1288, 1305; Grosse Fuge in B flat Major, Op. 133, 1261; Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Major, Op. 75 (‘Emperor’), 1009, 1026, 1261; Piano Sonata No. 14 (‘Moonlight Sonata’), 143; Symphony No. 4 in B flat Major, Op. 60, 1261; Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, 1261; Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, 356
Belgium, 891, 1076
Bell jars, 471–2
Bellini, Giovanni, 958
Bellow, Saul, 899
Bellows, George, 218
Bells of Atlantis (motion picture), 1002
Belmont, Mass., 649n, 651n, 658, 704
Belmont, The (West Harwich, Mass.), 440–2, 444, 446, 447n, 453, 457, 459, 462, 464–8, 472, 478, 481, 484–5, 494, 501, 590, 696, 704
Belote (game), 1076
Benét, Stephen Vincent, 139, 175, 234; Stephen Vincent Bénet Pocket Book, 175n
Benidorm, Spain, 1217–18, 1222–5, 1231, 1233–5, 1238–40, 1252, 1257, 1259, 1297, 1326, 1330
Benjy (motion picture), 717n
Bennett, Anne, see Vernon, Anne Bennett
Bennett, Joan, 553, 1047
Benotti, Dorothy Schober (SP’s aunt ‘Dot’/’Dottie’), 4, 9–10, 19, 22, 51, 60, 82, 103, 243, 653, 768, 772–3, 777, 878, 941, 943, 996, 1016, 1037, 1077, 1095, 1159, 1171–2, 1174; marriage service, 699; SP’s drawings of, 4
Benotti, Francesca M. Racioppi (‘Fran’), 237, 284, 356, 879, 939, 940, 947, 954
Benotti, Joseph (SP’s uncle ‘Joe’), 4n, 10, 18, 60, 699, 1095, 1159
Benotti, Nancy (SP’s cousin), 1197
Benotti, Robert J. (SP’s cousin, ‘Bobby’), 60, 82, 955
Berckemeyer y Pazos, Fernando, 773, 777
Bergen, Edgar, 67n
Bergman, Ingrid, 96
Berkeley Square (London), 961–2
Berlin, Germany, 140
Bermuda, 273
Bernhardt, Sarah, 1048
Bernice, 1064–5
Bertocci, Aili Kaukonen, 455
Bertocci, Angelo Phillip, 455n
Bertocci, Peter Anthony, 223, 586; ‘The Question of Sex Before Marriage’, 223
Beuscher, Christopher Grey, 940, 1053
Beuscher, Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse, 657, 697–8, 715, 763, 768, 798, 804, 809, 834, 837, 847, 849, 869, 905, 929, 940, 1052–3, 1082, 1098, 1102, 1115, 1123, 1150, 1177, 1192, 1199, 1202, 1204, 1237, 1250
Bevan, Edward Vaughan, 980–1, 988
Bibliomania, 727
Biery, James R., 641
Big Ben (tower/clock), 1046, 1081
Bill, 428
Biandi, Joseph, 383n
Bird, Anne Goodkind, 442n, 510, 732–3
Birmingham, UK, 1191
Birstein, Ann, 843n
Bishop, Elizabeth, 1270; ‘Fish’, 1270; ‘Roosters’, 1270; ‘Sestina’, 1270n
Bishop, Jess Ivy Brown, 1272, 1275, 1283, 1285, 1318
Blackwell, Betsy Talbot (‘BT’), 631
Blake, William, 873, 1133, 1166, 1203, 1236, 1287n; ‘Auguries of Innocence’ (quotation from), 1287n; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (quotation from), 1052n; ‘The Tyger’, 1133
Blakesley, Robert G., 227, 696
Blakey, Art, 53n
Blakey, George Gavin, 1148n
Blanton, Elizabeth, see McGrath, Elizabeth Blanton
Blodgett, Donald, 345, 361
Blodgett, Holly, 357, 363
Blodgett, John H. Jr, 345
Blodgett family, 341n, 343, 350, 356, 359, 361, 366, 376, 514
Bloom, Hyman, 779
Bloomingdale’s, 634
Blossom family, 473–6, 479–80, 485
Blue Grotto, Italy, 599
Blyton, Enid, The Mystery of a Disappearing Cat, 33n
Boas, George, 597, 601
Bobbe, 270
‘Bobbie Shafto’, 775
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 514
Bogan, Louise, 1175, 1177, 1181
Bohn, Carl, ‘Murmuring Brook’, 24
Boiceville, New York, 914
Bombay, India, 829
Bond, Ellen, SP’s correspondence with, 683–4
Bond, Sarah, 86n
Bonn, Germany, 949
Bonneville, Mary Agnes, 478, 503, 506, 508, 511, 542, 547, 555, 576, 606, 677–8, 696, 825
Bonneville, Mary Anna, 503, 506, 508
Booth, Marion Frances, 483, 527–8, 537, 554, 697, 701, 702, 733, 804
Bordeaux, France, 1212
Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards, 917, 940, 1052, 1312
Boris, Bessie, 383n
Bosch, Hieronymus, 1013
Boston, Mass., 29–30, 33, 36–7, 38n, 48, 84, 104n, 111, 153, 161, 167, 170, 191, 227n, 275, 288, 347, 357, 359, 362, 377n, 383n, 406, 411n, 414, 416, 420, 426, 432, 464–5, 475, 481, 485, 489, 515n, 546, 590, 643, 646, 649n, 652–3, 656n, 662n, 669n, 678, 713, 720n, 760–1, 780, 798, 811n, 829, 834, 838, 840, 843n, 849, 896, 901, 915, 935, 937, 940–1n, 950, 955–6, 961, 1003–4n, 1077n, 1110, 1162, 1244, 1255, 1263, 1329; SP’s descriptions of, 716; see also Boston Common, Copley Plaza,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Scollay Square;
restaurants: Blue Ship Tea Room, 191n; Joseph’s, 720, 840; Old France, 104;
theatres: Astor Theatre, 662; Beacon Hill Theatre, 941n; Colonial Theatre, 669n; Esquire Theatre, 843n; Exeter Street Theatre, 656n, 720n; Kenmore Square Theatre, 465n, 940n; Loew’s Orpheum, 30n; Loew’s State Theatre, 39n, 104n; Plymouth Theatre, 227n; Wilbur Theatre, 1003n