Haunting of Sylvia Path

by Jacqueline Rose

Book Overview

Since her death in 1963 at the age of thirty Sylvia Plath as become a strange icon--an object of intense speculation, fantasy, repulsion, and desire. Jacqueline Rose stands back from the debates and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1853814814
• ISBN13: 9781853814815
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Virago Press (UK)
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very Interesting Study of Plath

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.

Harrowing

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!