The Bell Jar

Author(s): Sylvia Plath

Classic Fiction

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under -- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.

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Sylvia Plath's groundbreaking semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, offers an intimate, honest and often wrenching glimpse into mental illness in 1950s America.

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am." Sylvia Plaths words have this way of sitting on your shoulders and weighing you down. Her work feels like a rainstorm hitting the windows- it's so heavy, but makes such a lovely sound. 'The Bell Jar' is a book I have returned to many times, I've lost count how many times I've read it over th past 3 years. It follows the story of Esther Greenword, a young woman who is struggling to hold onto her own life. It's been said to be an autobiography labelled as fiction, and as somewhat of a Plath enthusiast- I wholeheartdly concur; It relates strikingly to the authors own life. I hope you aren't looking for something to brighten your day, because this book will not offer anything of the sort. However, if you are looking for something to accompany you in your own melancholy- this book will offer something of that sort." -Ella

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963); Ariel was published posthumously in 1965. Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

General Fields

  • : 9780571081783
  • : Faber & Faber, Limited
  • : Faber & Faber, Limited
  • : 0.176
  • : November 1965
  • : 197mm X 126mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Sylvia Plath
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : English
  • : 813.54
  • : good
  • : 258
  • : BGLA