Sylvia Plath, method and madness

the long version

Few modern poets have generated as much controversy as Sylvia Plath. In the aftermath of her suicide in 1963 at the age of thirty, Plath's popularity and stature have steadily increased due to her powerful, self-revelatory imagery and her unflinching stare into the abyss of the human soul. "Sylvia Plath: Method and Madness" masterfully explores the paradoxes of this fascinating woman: the overachieving daughter desperate for approval, the tormented poet warring with her demons, the doting mother who abandons her babies, the resentful wife raging against the confines of domesticity and an unfaithful but famous husband. Edward Butscher shows us both victim and avenging goddess. -- From publisher's description.