The life and work of Sylvia Plath has taken on the proportions of myth. Educated at Smith, she had an epically conflict-filled relationship with her mother, Aurelia. She then married the poet Ted Hughes and plunged into the Sturm und Drang of married life in the full glare of the world of English and American letters. Her poems were fought over, rejected, accepted and, ultimately, embraced by readers everywhere. Dead at thirty, she committed suicide by putting her head in an oven while her children slept. Her poetry collection titled Ariel became a modern classic. Her novel The Bell Jar has a fixed place on student reading lists. American Isis will be the first Plath bio benefiting from the new Ted Hughes archive at the British Library which includes forty-one letters between Plath and Hughes as well as a host of unpublished papers. The Sylvia Plath Carl Rollyson brings to us in American Isis is no shrinking violet overshadowed by Ted Hughes, she is a modern day Isis, a powerful force that embraced high and low culture to establish herself in the literary firmament.
Download and start listening now!
"Author Rollyson has a different view of Sylvia Plath, which tends to take the focus from her celebrity and look at what made her creatively write. He does include her life with Ted Hughes, but with a different perspective." — Lenore (4 out of 5 stars)
"Author Rollyson has a different view of Sylvia Plath, which tends to take the focus from her celebrity and look at what made her creatively write. He does include her life with Ted Hughes, but with a different perspective."
The figure that emerges from Rollyson's study is certainly compelling, and very much a woman of her moment and culture.
" A serious book that I am still processing as I write a full review for later in the week. "
" I stopped before the end. I am not a great fan of psychoanalytical biographies; I spend too much time disagreeing with the author's point of view. It's too bad because I was really looking forward to this book. "
" Has some interesting theories on Plath - striving to create her own literary legend in her lifetime. "
" Rollyson chronicles a psychological profile of Plath. "
" I almost never give up on a book- and I really wanted to like this one- but I just could not find any redeeming qualities. Such a dry, poorly written text about a beautiful and inspiring author and poet! "
Carl Rollyson, a professor of journalism at Baruch College, the City University of New York, has written over forty books ranging in subject matter from biographies of cultural icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, and Norman Mailer, to studies of American culture, genealogy, children’s biography, film, and literary criticism. He has authored over five hundred articles on American and European literature and history. Rollyson is president emeritus of the International Rebecca West Society.
George Newbern is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a television and film actor best known for his roles as Brian MacKenzie in Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II, as well as Danny in Friends. As a voice actor, he is notable for his role as Superman on the Cartoon Newtork series Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. He has guest starred on many television series, including Scandal, The Mentalist, Private Practice, CSI: Miami, and Numb3rs. He holds a BA in theater arts from Northwestern University.
Audiobooks Were Restored to Your Cart
[ShoppingCartItemsAddedOnMerge] audiobook(s) were left in your cart from a previous visit, and saved to your account for your convenience. You may view or remove these audiobooks on the shopping cart page.