Research Beyond the Archives
I’m blogging now for AWP’s Writer’s Notebook, and you can find my article about researching here. While my focus is on Plath, you can use the ideas for anyone you might be researching.
The James Joyce Society Reading Finnegans Wake
Some of you know that I am just recently back from the 2017 Sylvia Plath Symposium in Belfast, Ireland. I took copious notes, and plan to share them, but as I reviewed and typed them, I was also looking at pictures of Ireland and digging into James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. Anyway, it all took me […]
Plath and Alchemy
Take a look at this picture. Especially the top lines, which show symbols for the principle elements of alchemy (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) and the crucial elements of the alchemical process (Lead, Tin, Iron, Gold, Copper, Mercury, Silver). Plath’s collection Ariel is loaded with alchemy. Scholars know that Plath’s mother Aurelia studied and wrote her […]