Sylvia Plath, página 3 de 7

Upon the publication of her posthumous volume of poetry, Ariel, in the mid-1960s, the author became a household name. Readers may be surprised to learn that the draft of Ariel left behind by her when she died in 1963 is different from the volume of poetry eventually published to worldwide acclaim. This facsimile edition restores, for the first time, the selection and arrangement of the poems as she left them at the point of her death. In addition to the facsimile pages of her manuscript, this edition also includes in facsimile the complete working drafts of the title poem 'Ariel', in order to offer a sense of her creative process, as well as notes the author made for the BBC about some of the manuscript's poems. In her insightful foreword to this volume the author's daughter explains the reasons for the differences between the previously published edition of Ariel as edited by her father, and her mother's original version published here. With this publication, the author's legacy and vision will be re-evaluated in the light of her original working draft. Sylvia Plath churned out her final poems at the remarkable rate of two or three a day, and Robert Lowell describes them as written by 'hardly a person at all ... but one of those super-real, hypnotic, great classical heroines.' Even more remarkable, she wrote them during one of the coldest, snowiest winters (1962-63) Londoners have ever known. Snowbound, without central heating, she and her two children spent much of their time sniffling, coughing, or running temperatures (In 'Fever 103°' she writes, 'I have been flickering, off, on, off on. / The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss.'). Pipes froze, lights failed, and candles were unobtainable. As if these physical privations weren't enough, Plath was out in the cold in another sense--her husband, Ted Hughes, had left her for another woman earlier that year. Despite all this (or perhaps because of it), the Ariel poems dazzle with their lyricism, their surprising and vivid imagery, and their wit. Rather than confining herself to her bleak surroundings, Plath draws from a wide array of experience. In 'Berck-Plage,' for instance, clouds are 'electrifyingly-coloured sherbets, scooped from the freeze.' In 'The Night Dances,' the poet st

Sylvia Plath (Boston 1932 - Londres 1963) és una de les figures indiscutibles de la poesia anglesa del segle XX. Sóc vertical recull tots els poemes escrits per Plath entre el 1960 i el 1963, els anys de maxima plenitud literaria. Al costat dels llibres Arbres d'hivern i Travessant l'aigua, presentem l'edicio restituida d'Ariel, publicat postumament pel seu marit Ted Hugues l'any 1965 i reeditat quaranta anys mes tard per la seva filla tal com l'havia deixat l'autora sobre la seva taula abans de llevar-se la vida. Montserrat Abello ha incorporat Sylvia Plath a la nostra tradicio literaria amb una traduccio impecable que capta amb ritme i rigor la imaginacio meticulosa i angoixada de l'autora d'Ariel.

Sylvia Plath nació en Jamaica Plain, Massachussets y puso fin a su vida en Londres. Publicó en vida una novela, The Bell Jar (La campana de cristal) , y un libro de poemas, The Colossus and Other Poems , peo sus obras mas destacadas aparecieron postumamente, publicadas por su ex-marido, el tambien poeta Ted Hughes. Su Correspondencia y sus Diarios , parcialmente publicados tambien postumamente, han enriquecido la imagen de esta poeta, a lo que contribuyo tambien, poco antes de morir, Hughes, con su libro Birthday Letters ( Cartas de cumpleaños ). Arboles en invierno comprende dos partes; la segunda, Three Women es un dialogo poematico entre tres voces femeninas - tres mujeres en su maternidad -, estrenado en la BBC unos meses antes de la muerte de su autora. Intensa y desgarrada, la poesia de Sylvia Plath no ha cesado de interesar a lectoras y lectores desde su muerte, y es una referencia obligada en el panorama lirico norteamericano de la segunda mitad del siglo XX.

Sylvia Plath's correspondence, addressed chiefly to her mother, from her time at Smith College in the early 1950s up to her suicide in London in February 1963. In addition to her capacity for domestic and writerly happiness, these letters also hint at her potential for deep despair. One wonders just how fully or well this prolix collection of letters, written primarily to Sylvia Plath's mother - editor Aurelia Schober Plath who also contributes a commentary - will serve as autobiography, as amplification, or as anything except externalization of details on that short life which ended with a posthumous question mark. Here Mrs. Plath, claiming some 'sort of psychic osmosis' with her daughter, clearly plays a most devoted role and for the first two thirds of this voluble confessional, Sylvia seems to be writing to her on a girlish high. The letters (those to her brother really say more) are effusive with wonderfuls and thrillings and 'How can I bear the joy of it all.' Even later after her marriage to Ted Hughes they embarrass - 'everything I do with and for Ted has a celestial radiance.' In between, they are a documentary of her work from poems to short stories to the infrequently mentioned novels (including the one she intended as a 'potboiler') and the increasing recognition both she and Ted received with publication, grants, teaching positions, etc., etc. Then come the difficult times (excluded from the Letters Home) when Sylvia was raddled by the two children, the miscarriage in between, the attrition of her creativity, and the harassments of the simple domesticity she used to enjoy and the babies she still loved. After the separation/divorce, Sylvia indicates that she is determined to survive alone, securing the flat in Yeats' house, buying clothes and a new fashionable exterior. (One wonders whether Alvarez' contention that she ended her life 'carelessly and by mistake' might not be right.) But there are those darker moments when she wrote - feverishly - the final poems which would be 'the best poems of my life, they will make my name.' For the most part the correspondence is a less than revealing testimony (her admiration of Ted is unbounded; later after the 'hurtful' time, almost the only allusion, her discretion is absolute), but there will be many to read it - not only th

Única obra narrativa de la gran poeta norteamericana, ésta es una novela sobre la adolescencia, un retrato de la artista adolescente y de las dificultades que debe salvar para encontrar un lugar propio en un mundo plagado de hostilidades .

Sylvia Plath nació en Boston en 1932. En 1950 entró en el prestigioso Smith College para cursar literatura: era una alumna ejemplar, brillante (ya publicaba poemas y relatos en diversas revistas), que ambicionaba ser popular y, sin embargo, en 1953 protagonizo un intento de suicidio. Dos años despues, se graduo y obtuvo una beca Fulbright para ampliar estudios en la Universidad de Cambridge (Reino Unido). Alli conocio al tambien poeta Ted Hughes, con quien se caso y tuvo dos hijos; seis años despues se separaban. En 1963, Sylvia Plath se suicido en su piso de Londres. En vida publico el libro de poemas El coloso (1960) y la novela autobiografica La campana de cristal (1963). Tras su muerte aparecieron Ariel (1965) y Cruzando el agua (1971). En 1981, la edicion de su Poesia completa merecio el premio Pulitzer. La presente seleccion quiere dar a conocer al lector de habla castellana poemas no traducidos previamente o que no estaban al alcance del gran publico de una de las voces clave de la poesia del siglo XX. Encuadernacion: rustica.

Plath's poetry is characterized by bold metaphors, heightened language, and violent imagery. Intensely autobiographical, they detail her angry struggles with her own mental disturbances and with the

Plath's best-known collection of poems which "established her reputation with its courageous and controlled treatment of extreme and painful states of mind".

This was the only book of Plath's poetry published in her lifetime. These early poems are formal in structure and meticulously crafted.

In un albergo di New York per sole donne, Esther, diciannovenne di provincia, studentessa brillante, vincitrice di un soggiorno offerto da una rivista di moda, incomincia a sentirsi «come un cavallo da corsa in un mondo senza ippodromi». Intorno a lei, sopra di lei, l'America spietata, borghese e maccartista degli anni Cinquanta. Un mondo alienato, una vera e propria campana di vetro che schiaccia la protagonista sotto il peso della sua protezione, togliendole a poco a poco l'aria. L'alternativa sara abbandonarsi al fascino soave della morte o lasciarsi invadere la mente dalle onde azzurre dell'elettroshock. Pubblicato nel 1963, un mese prima del suicidio dell'autrice, "La campana di vetro" è l'unico romanzo di Sylvia Plath. Fortemente autobiografico, narra con stile limpido e teso e con agghiacciante semplicita le insipienze, le crudelta incoscienti, i tabù capaci di stritolare qualunque adolescenza nell'ingranaggio di una normalita che ignora la poesia.