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?
DFW is a writer who represents a certain stage in the sexual developement of the adolescent male that can continue well into adulthood, who at the same time has incredible, near genius, chops as a stylist and writer of narrative devlopment. It occurs to me, that Plath, with her fixation on "daddy" might occupy a similar space for developing females and I was curious if you had any thoughts.
I'm sure you must know because you wrote a book and all, but then how do you explain the imagery in her poem, "Daddy?" Don't you think there's something revealing there? I feel you can easily draw a connection from the poem to her failed relationship to Ted Hughes. "Daddy, Daddy you bastard I'm through," is the last line in the poem. But don't bother answering. It's okay. Sorry I asked.
I think Plath was interested in the relationships between fathers and daughters, husbands and wives. I think using terms like "daddy fixation" is reductive and sexist, and points to the ways we pigeonhole Plath (and plenty of other women artists). The poem "Daddy" is about a lot of things, but for my money, it's primarily about refusing to conform to, and perform, the artistic standards of masculinity. It's a poem about the violence inherent in the family unit, and the ways mid-twentieth century political movements like Nazism and Fascism mimicked, in some ways, that violence, on a much larger, structural level.
Don't be sorry you asked. Also, I used to live with someone who wielded DFW's so-called genius like a cudgel against Plath (and, by extension, me). I found his work boring beyond belief. And he hated women. But that's true of a lot of people, so, what can you do.
That's exactly why I asked. Plath and DFW are kind of bookends over a certain strata of readers that are defined by and limited by their sexuality. Daddy issues is reductive and the poem is broader as is her writing. The same is true of DFW. Their reduction comes from they way they are recieved and promoted.
I don't see Plath's suicide as an endgame. I see it as the result of a lethal combination of circumstance, which has a great deal to do with the isolation of mothers, depression, and intimate partner violence. I know nothing about the circumstances of DFW's death, so I can't speak to it.
One of the great literary crimes of all time is the destruction of Sylvia Plath's last journals by their executor, Ted Hughes. Many of our questions will remain unanswered as her voice was silenced. Anyway, nice talking to you and good luck Emily.
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. 🩶
Thanks, Bridget! I’m so glad you’re here. Let me know what you think of the book!
Just ordered…can’t waitttt!
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?
What is David Foster Wallace to men?
DFW is a writer who represents a certain stage in the sexual developement of the adolescent male that can continue well into adulthood, who at the same time has incredible, near genius, chops as a stylist and writer of narrative devlopment. It occurs to me, that Plath, with her fixation on "daddy" might occupy a similar space for developing females and I was curious if you had any thoughts.
Plath didn’t have a “fixation on ‘daddy.’”
I'm sure you must know because you wrote a book and all, but then how do you explain the imagery in her poem, "Daddy?" Don't you think there's something revealing there? I feel you can easily draw a connection from the poem to her failed relationship to Ted Hughes. "Daddy, Daddy you bastard I'm through," is the last line in the poem. But don't bother answering. It's okay. Sorry I asked.
I think Plath was interested in the relationships between fathers and daughters, husbands and wives. I think using terms like "daddy fixation" is reductive and sexist, and points to the ways we pigeonhole Plath (and plenty of other women artists). The poem "Daddy" is about a lot of things, but for my money, it's primarily about refusing to conform to, and perform, the artistic standards of masculinity. It's a poem about the violence inherent in the family unit, and the ways mid-twentieth century political movements like Nazism and Fascism mimicked, in some ways, that violence, on a much larger, structural level.
Don't be sorry you asked. Also, I used to live with someone who wielded DFW's so-called genius like a cudgel against Plath (and, by extension, me). I found his work boring beyond belief. And he hated women. But that's true of a lot of people, so, what can you do.
That's exactly why I asked. Plath and DFW are kind of bookends over a certain strata of readers that are defined by and limited by their sexuality. Daddy issues is reductive and the poem is broader as is her writing. The same is true of DFW. Their reduction comes from they way they are recieved and promoted.
It probably has something to do with their mutually shared endgame.
I don't see Plath's suicide as an endgame. I see it as the result of a lethal combination of circumstance, which has a great deal to do with the isolation of mothers, depression, and intimate partner violence. I know nothing about the circumstances of DFW's death, so I can't speak to it.
One of the great literary crimes of all time is the destruction of Sylvia Plath's last journals by their executor, Ted Hughes. Many of our questions will remain unanswered as her voice was silenced. Anyway, nice talking to you and good luck Emily.