Sylvia Plath by now represents the Nietzschian eternal return of
the identical.
In 1989 I graduated with a dissertation on Sylvia Plath focused on a
Close analysis of her production of metaphors in relation to her mental
states.
My analysis found support in Charles Mauron’s psycho-critic, which also
provided a scheme to test his theory, a scheme according to which one can
actually measure the amount of creativeness in relation to biographical
stability or instability. The stress was very much on the stimulant effects
of neurosis on the creative mind.
At the time, my thesis appeared original to my professors, and I still
believe Mauron’s method can produce good results.
For those who might be interested , there is a book, in particular that
deserves attention and which helped me a lot in my own analysis of Plath's
work, and it is Mauron's INTRODUCTION TO THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF MALLARME,
published in 1963. I have not read yet this new critical study of Sylvia
Plath, but I guess the point underlined by Douglas Clark, is rather
relevant.
It is undeniably true of Plath that she did manifest a kind of
unrestrictedly artistic power when undergoing stressful phases.
Otherwise, it think, she was a quite sombre and rationally purposeful
individual of a high intellectual level.
So, with Plath the story will never stop being re-narrated. She arranged
herself her narratives in detail. The exchanges between her and us now are
a matter of mythology.
Erminia
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