Sylvia Plath is an object of enduring cultural fascination-the troubled patron saint of
confessional poetry a writer whose genius is buried under the weight of her status as the
quintessential literary sad girl. Emily Van Duyne-a superfan and scholar-radically reimagines
the last years of Plath's life confronts her suicide and the construction of her legacy.
Drawing from decades of study on Plath and her husband Ted Hughes the chief architect of
Plath's mythology the life and tragic suicide of Assia Wevill Hughes's mistress newly
available archival materials and a deep understanding of intimate partner violence Van Duyne
seeks to undo the silencing of Sylvia Plath and resuscitate her as the hardworking brilliant
writer she was.
