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Sylvia Plath

Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 Paperback – February 28, 1992

by Sylvia Plath (Author), Aurelia Schober Plath (Editor)

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Sylvia Plath's correspondence, addressed chiefly to her mother, from her time at Smith College in the early 1950s up to her suicide in London in February 1963. In addition to her capacity for domestic and writerly happiness, these letters also hint at her potential for deep despair.

Print length

512 pages
Language

English
Publisher

HarpPeren
Publication date

February 28, 1992
Dimensions

5.51 x 1.28 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0060974915
ISBN-13

978-0060974916
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Sylvia Plath
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Aurelia Schober [Ed]; Sylvia Plath Plath
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Sylvia Plath
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Sylvia Plath
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Sylvia Plath
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Sylvia Plath
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Finally now, young women writers can cease to identify with the apparent self-destroyer in Sylvia Plath and begin to understand the forces she had to reckon with." -- --Adrienne Rich

"One is left willing to bestow on Sylvia Plath the compassion and charity she so relentlessly and fatally denied herself." -- --Saturday Review

About the Author

Sylvia Plath (1932-63) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright fellowship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Other posthumous publications include Ariel, her landmark publication, Crossing the Water, Winter Trees, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams and The Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarpPeren; Reprint edition (February 28, 1992)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060974915
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060974916
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 1.28 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,541,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,022 in Author Biographies
- #19,126 in Women's Biographies
- #25,798 in Poetry (Books)

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Sylvia Plath

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Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Massachusetts. Her books include the poetry collections The Colossus, Crossing the Water, Winter Trees, Ariel, and The Collected Poems, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Plath is credited with being a pioneer of the 20th-century style of writing called confessional poetry. Her poem "Daddy" is one of the best-known examples of this genre.

In 1963, Plath's semi-autobiographic novel The Bell Jar was published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas"; it was reissued in 1966 under her own name. A complete and uncut facsimile edition of Ariel was published in 2004 with her original selection and arrangement of poems. She was married to the poet Ted Hughes, with whom she had a daughter, Frieda, and a son, Nicholas. She died in London in 1963.

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Dayna A. Safranek

Insightful

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2019

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Excellent book. Contains various excerpts of Plath’s written correspondence to family members during a period of her life. The last year of her life as in all publications except her Collected Poems is missing. I’m not sure if that’s to save face for Plath or if little was written or if it was destroyed. I know her last journal Ted Hughes has stated he had destroyed and in written reports now it states she left little notes here and there. Still unpublished. It’s been long said Plath wrote a suicide note and mailed it to her mother in Boston. If you are to believe it or not. It’s hard to know where which story is true and which story is hearsay. It’s been so long and with the suicide of Plath’s son Nicholas, the only one left to really tell any version of the story is Frieda and she’s not talking..... not that she has too. It’s all basically been said except the innuendos.

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Ada Ardor

Eloquent, beautiful, mature, and very clear, featuring some of Sylvia Plaths' best writing.

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2015

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I am a massive fan of Sylvia Plath, and I finally finished reading her beautiful Letters Home. I had this book for years, but I am glad I waited, so certain instances that I had read about before venturing into this book, were given a context.

Sylvia Plath was brilliant, and she won many prizes for writing, and she worked hard, but it was astonishing how modest she was. She never felt she was better than anyone. She just wanted to learn. She felt inadequate most of the time, and being a perfectionist, she was insecure and self-defeating. Regardless, she had enormous amount of self-discipline, writing 1500 words a day. She strived just to be just a mediocre writer. She thought it better to take a class with a genius and ruin her grades, than to get good grades for the sake of good grades. She really embraced every opportunity.

I think I understand why she crashed. It wasn’t just the summer that warped her (and though it is never written, the concentration of so many pretty, intelligent, literary young women must have wounded her to the core). But it was also one disappointment after another, so she felt low, and in that low place, she just let herself go. She took her defeats very personal, without taking in the context. But that is just my guess. We all guess. For even Plath, years later, is she is quite baffled of how it all went wrong.

The writing is very charming. You like her as a person. She writes with intelligence, clear direction, maturity, and need. I will concede that as much as I admire Plath, I find some of her prose and yes, even her poems, to be stilted, too rigid in its conformity to structure, and too tight. And though these letters are not prose; the fact that these letters were not intended for publication and meant only to inform, makes her letters feel relaxed and natural. Her thoughts are clear and deep. Regardless of the brilliance of her poetry or even assumptions of her personality, you like her as a person. She has a very casual, coherent, yet thoughtful writing style. Her fears were normal. She was actually very complimentary of the people, who loathed her.

This book has been criticized as being too gushy; an overt attempt by her mother to counter the perception of Plath as neurotic and depressive, and also manipulative, because her mother was fed lies, and therefore, did not really know her daughter. Those critiques are valid, but they do not explain all. I will add that most children sideline their parents, lie to them to spare their parents’ hurt feelings. I will also add that Sylvia Plath did confess some bad feelings to her mother; they were so close, Sylvia Plath often wrote “we,” especially when she was in college, and in truth, she was doing very well, for years. It is clear that loved and feared her mother, and even at her worst, rather than running home, she was determined to make it in London, because she did not want her mother to see her at such a low point. Sylvia Plath did not want to give up, and not much has been written about her enormous fighting spirit. And in truth, the only times I felt Sylvia Plath was falsely enthusiastic was when she was writing about Ted Hughes. If there was any deception, it was about Ted Hughes, and it seemed Sylvia Plath was determined to fall in love with him.

Sylvia Plath wanted Richard Sassoon, and without prompting, loved and admired him, and when he rejected her, she convinced herself that she really loved Ted Hughes. I sincerely felt Sylvia Plath thought she had settled, and she was forcing Ted Hughes – not just on her mother, but also on herself. So you can just imagine the devastation she felt when Ted Hughes cheated on her. Because of her so-called compromise, devotion, and loyalty, even for the sake of her own work, the pain of his cheating stung all the worse. There were letters of desperation, but there were letters declaring it was the best time of her life. The parts where Plath was so allegedly happy after her separation from Ted were where I doubted her voice. It was difficult and sad to read how she was looking forward to going to Ireland, and for Ted to abandon her – had planned on abandoning her, was terrible to read.

Reading, you like Sylvia Plath as a person. She adored her friends and family. She was excited about writing and life. I also noticed there was little about vanity, except regarding her children, whom she thought exceptional. Despite all her accomplishments, she never boasted, and she was excited about every opportunity. Most astonishing, those who profess hatred – those she considered her friends, but later condemned her, she regarded with warmth.

I understand this book is not complete. These are letters not just to her mother, but to others. And they do not reveal Plath’s deepest thoughts.

But Plath did howl, and you understand her grief. That does not take away from what a sensitive good person she was. There is a reason why there is much interest. Not just because her work is good, but you sense what a good person she was.

4 people found this helpful

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Nicole Del Sesto

Engrossing.

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2009

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After reading The Bell Jar I wanted to know everything I could possibly know about Sylvia Plath. I'd never read an author's journal or letters before, and I loved it! (It was one of my top ten reads of 2008.)

I love all the technology available to us today, but e-mail has certainly killed the magic of letters. This book has something like 1,000 letters from Sylvia, mostly to her mother. And yes, they are edited; and while at times you could certainly see Sylvia's mother making sure everybody knows she was a good mother, they are edited very well.

The letters read like narrative, taking you through a really interesting life story. Anyone interested in Plath should make this a must read. Between this and The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath , I found Letters Home to be much faster paced and overall engrossing.

One day I may go back and read Letters Home and the journals simultaneously to see the differences in the letters vs. the journals during the same periods.

I highly recommend this book. Whether you are a fan of Plath's or just interested in the pre-techology life of a student, lover, wife, mother, you can't help but be captivated.

4 people found this helpful

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Susan Rudd

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2017

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Love the book! Just finished reading it. Received it in a timely manner. Great experience!

One person found this helpful

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April

Great book. Great condition.

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2017

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I bought this for my beautiful daughter who just moved away from home and who is a huge Syvia Plath fan. She was so excited and loved it!.

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2009

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I love reading about Syliva Plath's life so if your a fan then this is definatley a book to add to your collection. It's a long read, not something you can just go through in a few days. This is a book you take your time with.

One person found this helpful

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P

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015

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Plath is an incredible writer.

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Suzinne Barrett

The Wrath of Plath . . .

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2010

is no where to be found here. I knew that Sylvia Plath's letters to her mother and brother were (over) edited so I was forewarned somewhat. But I read very favorable reviews here on amazon.com. so I decided to pick up Letters Home. Well, I'm here to say I was very disappointed. Yes, it's well written, and you do get a sense, however limited, of Sylvia's life and routine. But as to her inner conflicts and conflicts with other people and situations? Not at all. Nobody reads Plath for the warm and fuzzy, frankly. Her true fans want Is The Wrath of Plath! Not how wonderful her husband and baby or babies were. Or what a delicious meal she cooked or ate. Or favorable early impressions of her husband's mother and sister, who she later came to dislike strongly.

Too bad we couldn't get the "full monty" with this volume.

6 people found this helpful

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Michelle Hynes

Perfect

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2021

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Delivered earlier than expected. In excellent condition. Love it so much and I'm glad I was able to get my hands on this.

Lisa

Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2020

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Quick delivery. Really pleased, great quality and would definitely buy from this seller again.

mary horan

Speedy delivery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2019

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Excellent

Roberto

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2017

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Perfect.

Daniela

Assolutamente fantastico!

Reviewed in Italy on December 14, 2017

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Libro assolutamente fantastico! Ho avuto modo di leggerlo anche tradotto in italiano, ma nella versione originale è tutta un'altra storia. Il libro è arrivato in ottime condizioni e sono rimasta molto soddisfatta dalla professionalità del venditore.
Consiglio questo libro a chiunque voglia conoscere l'altra metà di Sylvia Plath.

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