The Journals of Sylvia Plath

The complete journals of Sylvia Plath.

‘Everything that passes before her eyes travels down from brain to pen with shattering clarity – 1950s New England, pre-co-ed Cambridge, pre-mass tourism Benidorm, where she and Hughes honeymooned, the birth of her son Nicholas in Devon in 1962. These and other passages are so graphic that you look up from the page surprised to find yourself back in the here and now. The struggle of self with self makes the Journals compelling and unique.’ John Carey, Sunday Times

‘So what does this new edition of the Journals offer, other than Karen Kukil’s exemplary editing? Most importantly, it gives us Plath unmediated, as no biography or memoir can . The poems tell the story as the poets [Hughes and Plath] wanted, with the composure of great art. But in their raw intimacy, these Journals are no less enthralling.’ Blake Morrison, Independent on Sunday

Author Biography

Sylvia Plath (1932-63) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.