The Journals of Sylvia Plath

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Doubleday - Anchor Books, 1998. Second Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5" x 8. 370 Pages Indexed. May 1998 Edition. No marks or stamps. Very light barely perceptible evidence of age-tanning at page borders. Plath began keeping a diary as a young child. By the time she was at Smith College, when this book begins, she had settled into a nearly daily routine with her journal, which was also a sourcebook for her writing. She once called her journal her Sargasso, her repository of imagination, a litany of dreams, directives and imperatives, and in fact these pages contain the germs of most of her work. Plath's ambitions as a writer were urgent and ultimately all-consuming, requiring of her a heat, a fantastic chaos, even a violence that burned straight through her. The intensity of this struggle is rendered in her journal with an unsparing clarity, revealing both the frequent desperation of her situation and the bravery with which she faced down her demons. Written in electrifying prose the journals provide unique insight, and are essential reading for all those who have been moved and fascinated by Plath's life and work. Contents in Three Parts: Smith College 1940-1955, Cambridge 1955 Smith College 1957, and Boston 1958 England 196062. Plus Foreword by Ted Hughes, Chronology, and Editor's Nnote.