BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Hargrove, Nancy D. “The Chronology of Sylvia Plath's Poems: 1956-1959.” Studies in Bibliography 45 (1992): 266-92.

Chronological bibliography of Plath's early poems, with supporting commentary from Plath's journals.

Meyering, Sheryl L. Sylvia Plath: A Reference Guide, 1973-1988. Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1990, 203 pp.

Guide to Plath criticism and primary sources from 1973 to 1988.

Tabor, Stephen. Sylvia Plath: An Analytical Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Meckler Publishing Corporation, 1987, 268 pp.

Bibliography of Plath's primary works, focusing on monograph publications and Plath's contribution to periodicals.

BIOGRAPHIES

Alexander, Paul. Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991, 402 pp.

Biography of Plath; Alexander notes in his preface that Ted Hughes did not wish to participate in the publication of any biographical material on Plath.

Axelrod, Steven Gould. Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990, 257 pp.

Discusses events of Plath's life as they appear in her poetry.

Hayman, Ronald. The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath. London: Heinemann, 1991, 220 pp.

Attempts to provide biographical information not previously known and to uncover the motivations behind Plath's suicide.

Stevenson, Anne. Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989, 413 pp.

Explains the effects of fame on Plath's life and work both before and after her death; contains appendices written by Lucas Myers, Dido Merwin, and Richard Murphy.

Thompson, Catherine. “‘Dawn Poems in Blood’: Sylvia Plath and PMS.” TriQuarterly, no. 80 (Winter 1990): 221-49

Interprets Plath's poems and journal entries from a physiological point of view, arguing that Plath most likely suffered from severe premenstrual syndrome.

Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987, 282 pp.

Biography that “emphasizes Plath's identity as a writer.”

———. Sylvia Plath: A Literary Life. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999, 172 pp.

Literary biography of Plath.

CRITICISM

Alvarez, A. “Your Story, My Story.” New Yorker 73, no. 45 (2 February 1998): 58-65.

Overview of Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters that reprints several poems from the volume.

Annas, Pamela J. A Disturbance in Mirrors: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988, 186 pp.

Examines Plath's search for selfhood through her poetry.

Bremer, J. M. “Three Approaches to Sylvia Plath's Electra on Azalea Path.”¹Neophilologus 76, no. 2 (1992): 305-16.

Analyzes Plath's poem “Electra on Azalea Path” by explaining the mythical figure of Electra, providing an autobiographical sketch of Plath, and assessing the poem itself.

Broe, Mary Lynn. “Plathologies: The ‘Blood Jet’ Is Bucks, Not Poetry.” Belles Lettres 10, no. 1 (Fall 1994): 48-62

Examines the “murky politics of critical interpretation and disturbing editorial and censorship practices [surrounding] Plath's publication history.”

Bundtzen, Lynda K. Plath's Incarnations: Woman and the Creative Process. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1983, 284 pp.

Discusses Plath poems as being particularly female.

Hughes, Ted. “On Sylvia Plath.” Raritan 14, no. 2 (Fall 1994): 1-10.

Discusses Plath's difficulties with writing narrative prose.

Rose, Jacqueline. The Haunting of Sylvia Plath. London: Virago Press, 1991, 288 pp.

Analyzes the impact of Plath's works and legend on the wider culture.

Sugars, Cynthia. “Sylvia Plath as Fantasy Space; or, The Return of the Living Dead.” Literature and Psychology 45, no. 3 (1999): 1-28.

Attempts to read Plath's works as fantasy, both to Plath and to the reader.

Van Dyne, Susan R. Revising Life: Sylvia Plath's Ariel Poems. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1993, 206 pp.

Examines Plath's texts as a key to her self-representation.

Wagner, Linda W., ed. Sylvia Plath: The Critical Heritage. London and New York: Routledge, 1988, 332 pp.

Collects reviews and criticism of Plath's work.

Additional coverage of Plath's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Vol. 13; Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, 1941-1968; Contemporary Authors, Vol. 19-20; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 34; Contemporary Authors Permanent Series, Vol. 2; Contemporary Literature Criticism, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 14, 17, 50, 51, 62, 111; DISCovering Authors; DISCovering Authors Modules: Most-Studied; DISCovering Authors Modules: Poetry; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 5, 6, 152; Major Twentieth-Century Writers, Vols. 1, 2; Something about the Author, Vol. 96; and World Literature Criticism.