Spiderman and Peter Brooks’ new Boiler Suit

Had to stop myself from getting upset reading the final chapters of The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath. When I first read Bitter Fame, the final build-up to Plath's suicide was powerful despite the protestations of Ann Stevenson, that Olwyn Hughes was almost due Joint Authorship due to her requests for changes to the book. I read it listening to music and the world outside was the world of that terrible, cold winter of 1963 rather than the dull summer of Liverpool, late 80s.

I find it ironic that the defenders of such a complex woman as Plath, seem to have the simplest arguments for proving that Ted Hughes was responsible for her death. Any ambivalence I might have had towards Hughes has long vanished in a sort of perverse reaction to the attacks on him. Of course I have read enough to know that the bottom line is that people get badly depressed and they do commit suicide without rational reasons. Indeed there can be no rational reasons for committing suicide except in the most extreme cases. I should really say just read the poems and you will know more than you will ever know from any biographies and that is still without being able to decipher all of the meaning you will find in those poems.

TDALOSP was slightly spoiled because the final 'NEW' chapter was full of typos which any basic spell-checker would have sorted out. It was horrifying to find the word 'peom' - I thought I was reading Molesworth for a moment. Bad Publisher - Naughty Publisher - cash in on the film would you?

While we are at it, go here for the proper order of the Ariel Poems. Well what the order was going to be. Maybe it is me but I have to read them one or two at a time. There is too much to handle in one go. I am going through them in order. I am thirteen and three-quarters maybe.