The Haunting of Sylvia Plath (Convergences) [Paperback]

Jacqueline Rose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993 | Series: Convergences

Since her death in 1963 at the age of thirty, Sylvia Plath has become a strange icon---an object of intense speculation, fantasy, repulsion, and desire. Jacqueline Rose stands back from the debates and looks instead at the swirl of controversy, recognizing it as a phenomenon in itself--one with much to tell us about how a culture selects and judges writers; how we hear women's voices; and how we receive messages from, to, and about our unconscious selves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

As Rose demonstrates in her ambitious and original book, Plath has become one who 'haunts our culture'...Rose both reads Plath's writing for its multiplicity, its ghostly subtexts of ambiguity and fantasy, and discusses the ways in which she has become the object of critical fantasies and debates about femininity, violence and contemporary culture...Her goal is to repair both the blatant and the subtle editorial cuts made in the body of Plath's writing, to restore the poet's sexuality, anger and left-wing politics to the historical and aesthetic record...Rose's book is surely one of the most illuminating to date about the contradictions and the haunting power of the Plath legacy. (Elaine Showalter London Review of Books )

In her powerful new book, Jacqueline Rose refuses the temptation to lay claim to the 'truth' about Plath's work; in her illuminating readings of individual poems, she restores their ambiguity and sexuality, striving to 'stay with that anxiety and not resolve it.' (Voice Literary Supplement )

Working at the source, [Rose] transforms an existential dilemma (which is how most people read the Plath life and work) into a problem of knowledge. In a stroke, she redefines the debate...Her book is thrilling. (Manchester Guardian )

The Haunting of Sylvia Plath gives us a new Sylvia Plath, even more troubling and contradictory and compelling than the one we thought we knew, and more important for the ways we understand literature and its place in twentieth-century culture. Rose's book--original, deftly-argued, and bold both in its perceptions and in the materials it chooses to include--will render most existing criticism of Plath obsolete. (Stacy Carson Hubbard American Literature )

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674382269
• ISBN-13: 978-0674382268
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #963,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( P ) > Plath, Sylvia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Study of Plath, July 6, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Haunting of Sylvia Plath (Convergences) (Paperback)

I bought a used version of this book because I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. I have not read tons of Plath criticism, but I felt this was the first I have read to really articulate what makes her poetry so compelling for me. Chapter Two on Orality and Writing I thought was just deadly accurate about Plath's work. I kept thinking, "Exactly! Wonderful!" Rose takes a few psychoanalytic ideas from Kristeva and Freud and makes them really work--this chapter should be a model for how to use psychoanalytic theory in interpreting literature in a productive and succinct way. I would have liked to see this chapter expanded--the ideas in it can be a little dense and quick (like Plath) and I would have liked to see Rose expand this to an analysis of more poems. I felt truly enlightened after reading this. The fourth chapter on Plath, feminism and fantasy is also excellent: Rose gave me so much to think about. She really opened up a way to read Plath again and she negotiated the question of Plath's relation to feminism very well. (To me) her ideas were unique and original.
My only criticism is that throughout I would have liked to see Rose analyze more poems. This book in fact struck me as a blueprint or outline for what should be a longer, more extensive analysis of the work. But overall, it will leave you inspired to do your own readings of Plath. I feel grateful for the provocative and helpful insights of this book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Service, May 23, 2011

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John Griffin - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Haunting of Sylvia Plath (Convergences: Inventories of the Present) (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this seller. He acted with professional courtesy and diligence throughout. Sellers like this make Amazon a delightful and wonderful place to shop for books. Many Thanks, John

5 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing, March 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Haunting of Sylvia Plath (Convergences) (Paperback)

This is a fascinating account of the controversal life and death of one of America and England's most wondered-about poets. Gives many new details and fresh insights. Highly recommended!