20世紀を代表する米国人作家のシルヴィア・プラス（1932-1963年）を読み解きます。30歳でその短い生涯に自ら終止符を打ったプラスは、現代詩の方向性を変え、フェミニズムの第二の波を支える作品群を遺しました。それらは今日に至るまで多くの読者を惹きつけ、とりわけ自身に重なる感情や経験を見出した女性にとって意義深いものです。詩集『巨像』『アリエル』、小説『ベル・ジャー』、短編『ジョニー・パニックと夢の聖書』『お願い箱』『メアリ・ヴェントゥーラと第九王国』などの重要なテーマを論じ、詩的告白主義、伝記、フェミニズム、政治、精神病などの広い文脈の中で作品を捉え直し、その生涯との接点を探ります。
 

• Provides a concise introduction to one of the most influential and iconic American writers of the twentieth century, exploring the major events in Plath's life and themes in her work
• Reframes Plath's work within the broader context of poetic confessionalism, biography, feminism, politics, and mental illness
• Written by a leading expert on Sylvia Plath

   
Sylvia Plath is one of the most influential and iconic American writers of the twentieth century, popular with academic and general audiences alike. Plath, who died at age 30, left behind a body of work that changed the direction of modern poetry, and buttressed second-wave feminism. Her poetry and fiction have been especially important to generations of women readers who have found a powerful reflection of their own emotions and experiences in Plath's art.
   
In this incisive introduction, leading Plath scholar Heather Clark explores the intersections between Plath's life and work while discussing key themes in Plath's poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel, her novel The Bell Jar, and short stories “Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams,” “The Wishing Box,” and “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom.” Clark summarizes the ways in which Plath has been pathologized, and reframes her work within the broader context of poetic confessionalism, biography, feminism, politics, and mental illness.