The Grief of Influence
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:9th Dec '10
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Throughout their marriage, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes engaged in a complex and continually evolving poetic dialogue about writing, love, and grief. Although scholars have commented extensively on the biographical details of Plath's and Hughes's marriage, few have undertaken a systematic intertextual analysis of the poets' work. The Grief of Influence reappraises this extraordinary literary partnership, and shows that the aesthetic and ideological similarities that provided a foundation for Plath's and Hughes's creative marriage - such as their mutual fascination with D. H. Lawrence and motifs of violence and war - intensified their artistic rivalry. Through close readings of both poets' work and analysis of new archival sources, Clark reveals for the first time how extensively Plath borrowed from Hughes and Hughes borrowed from Plath. She also explores the transatlantic dynamics of Plath's and Hughes's 'colonial' marriage within the context of the 1950s Anglo-American poetry scene and demonstrates how each poet's misreadings of the other contributed to the damaging stereotypes that now dominate the Plath-Hughes mythology. Following Plath and Hughes through alternating periods of collaboration and competition, The Grief of Influence shows how each poet forged a voice both through and against the other's, and offers a new assessment of the twentieth century's most important poetic partnership.
Heather Clark has given the story a new twist ... chapters on Hughes and the late Plath are excellently done. They document vividly and with scholarly authority how creatively involved the couple were with each other. * John Xiros Cooper, Notes and Queries *
The range of Clark's comparative approach is impressive... Clark writes with admirable clarity and perspicacity, and offers a study that is both broad and deep; it is testament to the poise, grace, and generosity of this book that it might work as an introduction to Plath and Hughes's work for an undergraduate or a careful refinement of an ongoing debate. * William May, English *
Clark's lucid and meticulous project traces the poets' careers through a series of shared concerns ... before exploring the way they continually 'remade' each other throughout the careers, and posthumously. ... The range of Clark's comparative approach is impressive here ... Clark writes with admirable clarity and perspicacity, and offers a study that is both broad and deep; it is a testament to the poise, grace, and generosity of this book that it might work as an introduction to Plath and Hughes's work for an undergraduate or a careful refinement of an ongoing debate. * William May, English *
a significant book ... Clark not only clarifies the troubled relationship between Hughes and Plath, but also advances our ideas about how to understand literary influence, especially among artistic couples ... appreciated by students of Hughes and Plath, who will gain myriad new insights about the two. * Diederik Oostdijk, English Studies *
- Winner of Named 2011 Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE.
ISBN: 9780199558193
Dimensions: 241mm x 165mm x 24mm
Weight: 564g
270 pages