Today, January 14, is the 62nd anniversary of the publication of The Bell Jar
As such, I offer you this tiny gift
Happy Bell Jar-versary, Plathies! Today, by sheer good luck, I discovered this absolute gem: Siskel & Ebert reviewing the famously terrible film adaptation of The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s only published novel, which debuted in London under pseudonym, Victoria Lucas, on this day in 1963. Look out for melodramatic outer renderings of Esther’s ironic inner monologues, Gene Siskel’s surprisingly nuanced take on Plath and her fans, an actor who manages to make Buddy Willard more dull on the stage than he is on the page, and Esther jumping up and down on her hotel room bed with Betsy, bagack-ing like a chicken, like cutting room floor footage from Arrested Development (IYKYK). RIP, Syl. I’m so sorry you missed this.
Just learned about you, your book, and this Substack today, and holy cow am I excited. This is Christmas morning to my inner Sylvia nerd. Thank you so much for your work! I can’t wait to read all of it. 🩶
Would you say that Sylvia Plath is to women, as David Foster Wallace is to men, or that some writer’s greatness transcends gender and limited appeal to adolescent psychological stage formations?