Newsletter 2
What's New at Plath Soc?
It is a fresh year, and this is the year we are hoping that the Sylvia Plath Society will really come into its own. We are grateful for your patience and support as we slowly become a concrete community where all fans of Sylvia Plath can come together to recognise her impact. Thank you for answering the survey! That will shape how we create the Society. Our inbox is always open if you want to contact us.
Plath Soc now has a website. If everyone could go to www.sylviaplathsociety.org then it will push us up the Google analytics. We will post the plain text version of all the Sylvia Plath Society Newsletters on there and leave an archive of them on our blog.
What A Trash!
The holiday season always brings about literary roundups and recommended reading lists. This year it's especially important as we "annihilate" another decade!
Plath made it into The Guardian's 'Top 10 Books About Loneliness' with 'The Bell Jar', a book they admire for its exploration of "the loneliness of societal expectations.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times has named 'The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. II' one of their 'Books of the Decade', telling us that they are "unmatched in literature". Polish radio station CZWÓRKA agree, naming the letters a "valuable supplement" that give the "full picture" of Plath.
Argentinian magazine La Nacion have included 'Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom' at the top of their reading "gems", highlighting to their readers the illustrations by Mònica Bonet as a reason Spanish-speaking Plath fans should be excited for this "perla escondida".
Plath herself isn't chosen by any of the 'Well-Known Literary Figures' choosing their favourite books of 2019 in the Irish Examiner, but Kevin Barry chooses Elizabeth Hardwick's "sparkling survey" of women in literature, 'Seduction and Betrayal', which includes an essay on Plath and a reading of her poems.
RPP, a radio station based in Lima, and Peruvian magazine Expresso both selected Rocío Silva Santisteban's 'Las Muchachas Malas de la Historia' as one of their '19 of 2019'. The collection of articles about women's liberation includes a profile of Plath which places her in a radical context for Latin-American feminism.
Diari ARA has named 'The Colossus' as one of the best Catalan books of the year. Both 'The Colossus' and 'Mary Ventura' were published in Catalan for the first time in 2019.
Plath in News
Chilean newspaper La Tercera has included a portrait of Sylvia Plath in its coverage of the new Flash Poesía Spanish-Language collection of Plath's poems, as has the Dutch publication Trouw in its coverage of 'Mary Ventura'.
French blog 'Auteurs en Cuisine' has tried and tested Plath's recipe for lemon pudding. Their webpage has included the recipe so we can follow along with ease.
Plath in Art
The Magazzini del Sale in Messina has produced 'Io sono Verticale', a play by Alessandra Barbagallo inspired by Plath's life and work.
Poet Mary Jo Bang discussed Plath's influence on her work in The New Yorker's poetry podcast from December 23rd. The episode is available as a transcript as well as an audio recording.
A new book by poet Sina Queyras entitled 'My Ariel' contains their meditations on and responses to Plath's iconic verse. Elsewhere in literature, Finnish author Sanna Tahvanainen's new book "Kirsikoita lumessa" (Cherries in the Snow) fictionalises Plath's month at Mademoiselle magazine and imagines her experiences.
Artist Sara Vasini has created a series of sculptures named "All’interno di luminose campane di vetro" as a tribute to Plath. Fellow artist Anthony Mastromatteo marries a Plath quotation with imagery by Roy Lichtenstein in his new painting "Experience".
French Glamour loves the newly translated edition of Taisia Kitaiskaia's 'Literary Witches' and its portrayal of Plath as a sorcer. The book is now available in French, Spanish and the original English.