The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume 1

by Sylvia Plath

  *A. George Gebauer (1932– ); B.A., 1954, chemistry, Amherst College; dated SP, 1954.

  *Panda prints birthday card designed by Rosalind Welcher.

  *Aloïse Buckley Heath (1918–67); B.A. 1941, Smith College; eldest sister of SP’s classmate Maureen Buckley O’Reilly; secretary of the Committee for Discrimination in Giving who sent a letter to the alumnae of Smith College alleging that five members of the faculty (including SP’s English professor Newton Arvin) were associated with publications or organizations cited by the Attorney General or the Un-American Activities Committee as being Communist or Communist-front organizations.

  *The protagonist in Crime and Punishment.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Either Gordon Lameyer to SP, 4–8 March 1954 or Lameyer to SP, 12 March 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *Ramona Maher (1934–96); B.A. 1954, Texas Christian University; her ‘Conjectured Harbours’, Prize Winning Entries of the Creative Writing Contests of the English Department, May 1953, 12–13. Maher was a guest editor at Mademoiselle in 1954.

  *Yale University sociology professor and alcoholism researcher Selden D. Bacon (1909– 92).

  *Nancy Hunter Steiner (1933–2006); B.A. 1955, history, Smith College; SP’s friend and roommate at Lawrence House, 1954–5.

  *Toto’s was a restaurant at 86 Green Street, Northampton, across the street from Lawrence House.

  *Probably Margaret ‘Margot’ S. Dennes Honig; B.A. 1957, Radcliffe College.

  *In the first two poems, SP handwrote ‘Harper’s’ to indicate where she placed the poem.

  *Added in SP’s hand.

  *Il Trovatore is a four-act opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).

  *Rodgers and Hammerstein, ‘A Wonderful Guy’, South Pacific (1949).

  *Italian-American US career diplomat Luigi R. Einaudi (1936– ); B.A. 1957, Harvard College.

  *Alexander Goldstein, Jr (1935– ); B.A. biology 1957, Harvard College; M.D. 1961, Baylor College of Medicine.

  *Young Lee Restaurant, then at 27 Church Street, Cambridge.

  *Vaughn Monroe’s Meadows, on Route 9 in Framingham.

  *Alan K. ‘Scotty’ Campbell (1924–98), Assistant Director of Harvard Summer School and instructor in Government, Harvard University.

  *The Confidential Clerk was performed at the Morosco Theatre, 217 W. 45th Street, New York.

  *The exhibition Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25 March–23 May 1954. SP’s copy of the exhibition catalogue is held by Lilly Library.

  *William Inge, Picnic (1953) was performed at the Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th Street, New York.

  *The three films were The Steps of Age (1951) directed by Ben Maddow; Who’s Boss (1952) directed by Alexander Hammid; and Benjy (1951) directed by Fred Zinneman.

  *Atherton Sinclair Burlingham (1926–87); B.Arch. 1950, Cornell University; active in Sage Chapel Choir and Cornell United Religious Work; attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City, 1954; dated SP in 1954. Burlingham went by the nicknames ‘Bish’ and ‘Bisher’.

  *The Asti Restaurant was at 13 E. 12th Street, New York.

  *Edna St Vincent Millay, ‘Recuerdo’.

  *Paul Johannes Tillich (1886–1965); German-American Christian existentialist philosopher and theologian.

  *Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971); American theologian, ethicist, public intellectual, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary.

  *The Salters lived at 40 E. 10th Street, New York.

  *George Salter (1897–1967), book designer and calligrapher. Married Agnes O’Shea in 1942.

  *Agnes O’Shea Salter (1901–89); Smith College 1927.

  *The Greenwich Theatre was at the corner of W. 12th Street and 7th Avenue, New York.

  *Cyrilly Abels was married to Jerome Weinstein (1901–72), a lawyer and an authority on tax policy. They lived at 14 Fifth Avenue, New York.

  *Probably a reference to the radio serial Grand Central Station (1937–54) which opened with ‘The crossroads of a million private lives, a gigantic stage on which are played a thousand dramas daily.’

  *Peter Vincent Moore (1952– ) and Michael Moore, step-brothers of Clement Henry.

  *George & Harry’s, a pizzeria with three New Haven locations: 90 Wall Street, 381 Temple Street, and 1132 Church Street.

  *Joseph’s, a restaurant formerly at 279 Dartmouth Street, Boston, Mass.

  *The film The Conquest of Everest played at the Exeter Street Theatre, Boston.

  *American artist David Holleman (1927– ). Holleman exhibited at Behn-Moore Gallery, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 22 March–11 April 1954.

  *USS William R. Rush; a Gearing-class destroyer, commissioned in September 1945.

  *Gordon Lameyer to SP, 12 March 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *A reference to the protagonist William ‘Willy’ Loman of Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949).

  *Rupert Brooke, ‘The Hill’; SP misquotes, ‘“We shall go down with unreluctant tread / Rose-crowned into the darkness!”’

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘The Suitcases Are Packed Again’.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Norman Richard Shapiro (1930– ); B.A. 1951, Ph.D., 1958, Harvard University; friend of SP and Philip McCurdy.

  *Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia (1893–1987) performed at Sage Hall on Saturday evening, 10 April 1954.

  *Gordon Lameyer to SP, 26 March 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Pygmalion played at Sage Hall, Saturday 17 April 1954 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *Harvard Crimson are the sports teams of Harvard University. A Harvard seal pennant was draped across the back of SP’s chair in her room at Lawrence House.

  *Herman Melville, Selected Tales and Poems (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1950); SP’s copy, which includes Billy Budd, is held by Emory University.

  *D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1953); SP’s heavily annotated copy, a gift from Marcia Brown, 24 April 1953; held by Smith College.

  *Hans Kohn (1891–1971); professor of history, Smith College, 1934–49; professor of modern European history, City University of New York, 1949–62.

  *Henrik Ibsen, Elevens Plays of Henrik Ibsen (New York: Modern Library, 1954); SP’s heavily annotated copy held by Smith College.

  *The Quill Bookshop was located across from Lawrence House at 90 Green Street, Northampton. SP also bought books at the Hampshire Bookshop on Crafts Avenue, Northampton.

  *George Bernard Shaw, Four Plays (New York: Modern Library, 1953); SP’s copy held by Lilly Library.

  *Eugene O’Neill, Nine Plays (New York: Modern Library, 1952); SP’s copy held by Lilly Library.

  *Christopher Fry, Venus Observed: A Play (London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1950); the location of SP’s copy is unknown.

  *Delmore Schwartz, Vaudeville for a Princess and Other Poems (New York: New Directions, 1950); SP’s copy held by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  *Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems (New York: Rinehart, 1953); SP’s copy held by University of Virginia.

  *Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (New York: Rinehart, 1950); SP’s copy, with some underlining to the introduction and the first ten chapters, held by Smith College.

  *Religious Center, 7 College Lane, was the headquarters for the Religious Association at Smith College, 1952–4.

  *Richard Wayne Wertz (1933–2002); B.A. 1955, Yale College; resident of Westminster College, Cambridge, 1955–6; M.Div. 1958, Yale Divinity School; Ph.D. 1967, Harvard University in history of American religion; roommate of Melvin Woody and Richard Sassoon at Yale College; dated SP, 1955–6; co-authored Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America.

  *Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (New York:
Modern Library, 1942); SP’s copy held by Lilly Library.

  *Richard Laurence Sassoon (1934– ); B.A. 1955, Yale College; attended the Sorbonne, 1955–6; dated SP, 1954–6. Sassoon was born in Paris, and raised in Tryon, North Carolina. There are very few letters from SP to Sassoon. SP biographer Andrew Wilson reports in his biography Mad Girl’s Love Song (2013) that Sassoon told him ‘Sylvia and I did correspond a lot and, long ago, visiting my parents’ house, I looked in the attic in a trunk where I kept her letters and they were not there, which is a total mystery.’ There are many letters from Sassoon to SP held by Lilly Library.

  *English poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967).

  *David Charles Ferner (1933–2016); B.A. 1955, Amherst College; Nancy Hunter’s boyfriend, David Ferner, a junior at Amherst College.

  *Andrew Jules Marie Pierre (1934– ); B.A. 1955, Amherst College.

  *Tennessee Williams, Camino Real (1953), 45; Kilroy is a lead character in the play.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *Panda Prints birthday card designed by Rosalind Welcher.

  *The Phi Beta Kappa initiation and banquet was held in the Franklin King and Laura Scales Houses at 6:00 p.m. SP was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in September 1953.

  *Alfred Young Fisher (1902–70); English professor, Smith College, 1937–67; SP’s colleague, 1957–8. SP completed a special study in poetry writing with Fisher, 1954–5.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Dora E. Palmer (1911–2000), English teacher and head of the Devotionals program, Wellesley High School; English teacher, Northfield School for Girls (fall 1954).

  *SP studied Elementary German: Aural-Oral Approach (S-Bab). SP’s Smith College scrapbook indicates the course was taught by William Oldenbrook, who was a teaching fellow for this course working under the direction of Dr James Hawkes of the Groton School. Though it does not appear on her official transcript, SP also studied Nineteenth-Century Novel (S-151) taught by Frank O’Connor.

  *SP’s friend Claiborne Phillips married Avrom Handleman, 7 June 1954.

  *David Mason Little (1896–1954); Master of Adams House, Harvard University (1938–54) and Secretary to the University (1936–54); co-editor of The Letters of David Garrick; died on 25 April 1954. Philip E. McCurdy was a resident of Adams House.

  *C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Macmillan, 1953), 57. In the fourth book of the Chronicles of Narnia illustrated by Pauline Baynes, Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle addresses Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb: ‘I see you’re making the best of a bad job. That’s right. You’ve been well brought up, you have. You’ve learned to put a good face on things.’

  *SP’s villanelle follows ‘A Bipartisan Policy for Asia’ by former Ambassador to India Chester Bowles (23–38); other authors on the title page include Van Wyck Brooks and Sigmund Freud. SP’s biography on page 19: ‘Sylvia Plath is a Smith College junior and has had poems and stories published in Mademoiselle and other magazines.’

  *Gordon Lameyer to SP, 19 April 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *James Joyce, Chamber Music (New York: Columbia University Press, 1954). SP’s copy is held by Smith College.

  *William York Tindall (1903–81), James Joyce scholar and professor at Columbia University.

  *Tindall, ‘Introduction’, Chamber Music (New York: Columbia University Press, 1954), 75.

  *Tindall, ‘Introduction’, Chamber Music, 77.

  *SP obtained a copy in Cambridge, England, in 1955, which is now held by Smith College.

  *Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (New York: Modern Library, 1950); SP’s copy held by University of Virginia.

  *Henry James, The American (New York: Appleton, 1949); SP’s copy held by Lilly Library.

  *Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (New York: Modern Library, 1951); SP’s copy held by Smith College.

  *Frank R. Stockton, ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ (1882).

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Probably Melvin Woody to SP, [c. 28 April 1954]; held by Lilly Library.

  *SP underlined this part of the definition of ‘pragmatism’ in her Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam Co., [c. 1949]). SP’s copy held by Smith College.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Jack Dennis Ferner (1930– ); B.S. 1953, University of Rochester; M.B.A. 1955, Harvard University, 1955.

  *Probably Melvin Woody to SP, [5 and 6 May 1954]; held by Lilly Library.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *American philosopher and legal theorist Morris Raphael Cohen (1880–1947) whose liberal social philosophy encouraged use of the state to achieve a more just society.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Melvin Woody to SP, [c. 8 May 1954]; held by Lilly Library.

  *Anton Chekhov, The Seagull, starring Montgomery Clift; directed by Norris Houghton; performed on 8 May 1954 at the Phoenix Theatre, 181 Second Avenue, New York.

  *Steuben’s Tavern, a restaurant then at 163 W. 47th Street, New York.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Shakespeare, Macbeth.

  *W. H. Auden, The Collected Poetry of W. H. Auden (New York: Random House, 1945), 208. SP’s copy, with annotated lines from ‘Lay your sleeping head’, held by Smith College.

  *Gordon Lameyer to SP, 7 May 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1941). SP’s copy held by Lilly Library.

  *SP submitted ‘The Dead’ for the Elizabeth Babcock Prize for Poetry and ‘Doom of Exiles’, under the pseudonym ‘Alison Arnold’, for the Corbin Prize. There was no Babcock Prize given in 1954. However, ‘The Dead’ was awarded the Ethel Olin Corbin prize.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *SP plays on a speech in Macbeth.

  *SP plays on A. E. Housman’s ‘LXII. Terrence, this is stupid stuff’, in A Shropshire Lad.

  *A reference to Calhoun College where Woody, Richard Sassoon, and Richard Wertz lived and were roommates.

  *From Alfred de Musset’s ‘La Nuit de Mai’.

  *Gordon Lameyer to SP, 7 and 13 May 1954; held by Lilly Library.

  *Delta Upsilon Fraternity.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘The Age of Anxiety and the Escape from Freedom’; held by Lilly Library.

  *J. Catherine Annis Gibian (1926–93); married to SP’s colleague George Gibian (divorced 1967); mother of Peter, Mark, Stephen, Gregory, and Lauren. ‘Cay’ was Mrs Gibian’s nickname.

  *An American publishing company founded in 1919 by Wilford Fawcett.