American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath

I believe the reason for some of these negative reviews is that American Isis attempts to be both mainstream and academic in personality, AND Hollywood AND mystical in theme. You'll see a few slangy shortcuts mixed with ten-dollar vocabulary words. He is writing for everyone (which can't be done), and no persona for Plath feels entirely true. Yet Rollyson is clearly on to something, because all of this is at least *a part* of Plath.Rollyson DOES sexualize Plath in the first bold line, "Sylvia Plath is the Marilyn Monroe of modern literature," a sentence that would have likely pissed Plath off. The Marilyn Monroe parallels throughout American Isis do feel sometimes painfully wedged into Plath's story. But this is written by a biographer of Monroe (he wrote Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, and is working on another about the Hollywood legend). Rollyson, after all, is the perfect person to know enough about Monroe to compare. Plath's journals and letters reveal that she absolutely loved Marilyn Monroe (and Hollywood). It is doubtful that "only Sylvia Plath," as Rollyson contends, would have thought that Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe's marriage was one to emulate in their time. Didn't every successful man of the fifties and sixties seek to have a beauty on his arm? Didn't every woman want a successful husband whom she admired? Are things so different today?The Isis metaphor, supported by both Plath and Hughes in writings and journals, and after whom the book bears its name, is never fully developed beyond the chapter titles, like "Primordial Child of Time"; "Queen Also of the Immortals"; and "In the Temple of Isis: Among the Heirophants". As a tarot reader and Plath scholar myself, I had a moment of fear that he was beating me to the punch publishing on the subject I am writing on myself! The chapter titles might have strengthened the book reinforcing the Monroe schtick: naming them "The Seven-Year Itch," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," etc. Robert Graves' mythological White Goddess, a book he references, feels misunderstood: Isis IS the White Goddess, who has many names depending upon the culture. American Isis' metaphors dizzily dance and mix from Monroe to Isis. Meanwhile, Plath's father Otto's character swings from Superman to the Tempest's Prospero--all in the very same paragraph. The points are clear enough, the analogies basically work, although it can get complicated.Rollyson makes some good points about historical context, but misses opportunities. The importance of the Superman character to American society of the 1940s and 50s was real, and he got that. Brilliantly. Friedrich Nietzsche's "übermensch" (aka, "overman" or "superman") would have sealed that metaphor for Plath, who revered this existential philosopher throughout her teens and adulthood. Yes, like Isis, Plath might have been trying to piece together and resurrect her beloved Osiris-Father, as Rollyson connects the dots. With this in mind, it is strange that he missed the first line of Plath's "The Colossus": "I shall never get you put together entirely."Rollyson brings up the interesting point of Plath hearing Hitler's speeches as a girl, and comparing them to her father barking orders from his bedside to her mother. He points out that since Aurelia wasn't respected by her husband, how could Plath have respected her mother? He makes a lot of sharp observations like these. He also occasionally undoes himself with assumptions and statements about what was going on in Plath's mind. We can't know things like that unless Plath herself documented them. When she did document her thoughts, Rollyson juxtaposes it against Hollywood: Scarlett O'Hara is occasionally thrown into the mix, for further mixed metaphors and starlet zing. Plath's beloved Wuthering Heights leaves Brontë's ivory paper pages in the dust to become the glitzy neon of Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon. He compares what Plath said to her mother once in a letter, calling herself a princess waiting for her white knight, to what Marilyn Monroe said to her psychiatrist. Were Marilyn's psychiatric conversations made public? I don't know.American Isis has the hard work of trying to tell a story we've all heard so many times, while also attempting to make it new. And like all the Plath biographies, getting permission for quotes is a real bitch. The author raises the interesting contradiction of why Hughes thought Plath's fiction was "a persistent refusal of her genius," yet he was actively seeking to cash in on his fables in attempt to sell them to Disney. He directly points at Hughes' sadistic side, and supports it in ways we haven't seen in earlier books. Rollyson also asks questions and makes comments of real value, if you're willing to sift through the fluff. It should be noted that Rollyson does include some new, small details of Sylvia Plath's last days of life that are not widely known.Serious Plath readers will want to perhaps breeze through the first couple hundred pages of this book, concentrating mainly on Chapter 8. Here is where Rollyson's work really begins: American Isis is perhaps the first careful, published exposition on the wars of permissions from Ted, Olwyn, and Frieda Hughes, and the general recalcitrance of the Plath estate. It has juicy personal comments from Plath's friends (whose points of view had been suppressed), the nitty-gritty about Olwyn's "editing" (censorship), and much more. It is a damned shame that American Isis didn't begin here, to be the biography to continue where every other left off. Rollyson's Appendices are also of great value, featuring an exposition on Carl Jung's influence on Plath; notes and annotations on some of Plath's books in her personal library; a letter from Hughes' other woman's husband, David Wevill; and commentary from Plath's friend, Elizabeth Sigmund. For the last hundred pages, American Isis is a smart book and valuable to any Plath scholar or fan. Buy it for that, with the understanding that this was probably a rush job: Rollyson was getting this published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Plath's death, and to drum up interest in his real passion, Hollywood. It's true that Some Like It Hot, and sex sells. And both women were beautiful tragedies.

Although this book is mainly about Plath, I actually really liked how it brought up a lot of Monroe. It was amazing to me how their lives paralleled in so many ways which wasn't exactly something I expected. There are also similarities in their depression, their marriages, and their feelings of being trapped within the walls which they built for themselves. It was definitely an interesting and different perspective on Plath. It also made me wonder about a lot of social constraints during their era-- female suppression, family obligations, idealization of femininity, limited options, and so on.But as a book about Plath, there is some new information, but not much. It's just presented in a different package with a newer bow. If you've never read about Plath's story, then this is a good place to start. If you've read other biographies, then it could be worth a read depending on your interests. Overall, it's a good book-- but the highlights for me were the comparisons with Monroe.

I was hooked on Sylvia Plath from the time I picked up the book Letters Home. I have collected every book and article about Sylvia Plath since. This book is a great read and there is always something new to discover about this great woman and poet. So tragic that no one stepped in and took control of her life when it was spiraling out of control. Ted Hughes betrayed her and I always wonder if she'd still be alive had her relationship with him been more loving and supportive. He did not understand her and despite their two children, he went on to have an affair from which Sylvia never recovered.

I thought the book started off very tentatively, a little awkward – the writing unpolished, but the book got better as I read. This book is written by a fan. The author refers to Sylvia Plath as Isis. Plath wanted to be known, and she wanted to be everything, much to Ted Hughes's bafflement. Plath was ambitious and knowledgeable, and she tried to be versatile. The book has many delicious little anecdotes and defies and challenges some of the things previously written about Plath. Probably one of the best biographies on Plath.

I found myself enjoying this book. I highly recommend it to any fan of Plath. I enjoyed reading her beginnings especially. It gave me more confidence as I write my own poems. Read this book.Author A.M Torres author of Shadowed Tears and Turmoil.

A tragic life, I blame her husband for most of it. I miss her beauty, her incredible style. Excellent book.

Like many others, I am avid Plath admirer; I will not used the vapid word fan. Like Plath's other followers, I have many of the biographies on her, as well as all the poetry, the two versions of her diaries, the book of her short stories and the book of Plath's letters Plath's mother edited. I"ve read a lot of the critical studies on Plath's work; American Isis is interesting upt to a point. Mr. Rollyson presents a persuasive case for the mythology Plath may have intended to present to the world about herself and her demons; but Mr.Rollyson leaves out, or glosses over, certain real life experiences that, in my humble opinion, were important in shaping Plath as a human being. I am referring to the electric shock treatments that Plath was put through after her first breakdown in the early fifties. The biographies I've read on Plath, particularly the ones written by Anne Stevenson and Janet Malcom, have persuaded me to believe that those same shock treatments were botched on Plath, and she of course never forgot that terrible experience. Mr. Rollyson rolls right past that in his book, as I have come to belive that shaped Plath's view of the real world. Mr.Rollyson makes interesting points about Plath's penchant for mythologizing herse; but he also loses sight of the reality Plath painfully understood.

The book shipped fast and was in excellent condition as described-thank you!

I have been fascinated with SP for the last 15 years and read pretty much every biography. This is the best. This is the only one someone interested in her life needs bother with in my opinion, as it does not allow itself to be part of the Hughes family (yes,YOU Olwyn)whitewash and censorship regime.I am however slightly confused by the way the author wants to draw parallels between Sylvia Plath and Marilyn Monroe, even claiming that Sylvia compared herself to Marilyn. When did she? Where is the evidence for this? She mentions a dream about Marilyn in her journals . . . . that's about it. I just feel that this link is odd and doesn't add anything to the Plath myth - but rather a way for the author to remind us that he has also written a biog on Marilyn that we might want to try once we have finished gawping at another woman dead in her 30s.Maybe the shocking and well hidden fact that none of us knew is that Sylvia had a blonde Marilyn wig on when she put her head in the oven. Ted burned it, along with her journals and draft of the second novel.But to reiterate, best Plath book I own. Lots of information here that I didn't know. This will stay on my shelf a lifetime.

I have read just about every book ever written about her. I found this one to be the most honest one. Carl Rollyson pulls no punches about Sylvia's very carefully crafted self created mythology. While he extolls her virtues as a poet, he is open about her pettiness in her day to day life. I had always wondered about her self-absorption, and this book totally confirms it. I found that I felt very sorry for Ted Hughes and their children. Sylvia Plath would have driven me right round the bend.

Having just finished reading Mad Girl's Love Song, I wasn't sure how this biography would compare, but it holds its own. It, too refers to new material, letters between Plath and Hughes, given to the British Library. The first three and a half chapters cover the same period as MGLS, up until Plath met Hughes, but American Isis then goes beyond that, spanning her whole life, and its aftermath.One thing that makes this book unique is that Rollyson compares and contasts Plath with Susan Sontag and Marylin Monroe, about whom he has also written biographies. Some may find this irritating if they have no interest in Sontag or Monroe, but there are genuine parallels between the lives of these women, and it left me wanting to read more of Rollyson's books.The book's main conceit is that Plath was aware of her life in terms of a myth. She was already "a legend" at Smith, where she enjoyed reading D H Lawrence's The Man Who Died - enlightening to read alongside this book. Perhaps Rollyson makes too much of one dream of Marylin Monroe, but Sylvia also dreamt of herself as "Isis bereaved, Isis in search." Rollyson uses mythological terms and references to the Isis Osiris myth throughout to highlight this, how her search for the perfect man was a search for the lost father,"All of those men (Plath had dated), were dead to her - or rather pieces of them, like the pieces of Osiris, had now been reconstructed into the stalwart and scintillating figure of Ted Hughes."Rollyson closely examines the reasons why Plath's boyfriends weren't enough for her. Dick Norton's attempt at an erotic love letter makes for cringe worthy reading. "If for no other reason than his prose style, Sylvia Plath could never have married anyone like Dick."Rollyson suggests that, "Unlike other writers of her generation, Plath realised that the worlds of high art and popular culture were converging." She longed for fame. She needed this public approval, and fantasized about it in her journals and letters. Ultimately this caused further problems in her marriage,"(Hughes') desire for a private world went against the very grain of the persona Plath was in the process of building. He let her down in ways far more disturbing than his infidelity."I think Rollyson goes further than Wright to elucidate the causes of difficulties between mother and daughter, giving reasons for Sylvia's resentment of her self-sacrificing mother. It is interesting that after Plath and Hughes separated Plath couldn't face her mother, as though she personified everything Sylvia hated about the previous generation of women. She rejected her mother as she rejected the traditional roles she was meant to fill, and she hated being indebted to her. On paper, Aurelia seems like a strong, caring mother, but Rollyson notes Frieda Hughes' contempt for her grandmother, an it seems she told Sylvia to get rid of Ted, driving a permanent wedge between them.Rollyson's explanation of what occurred with Edwin Akutowicz makes more sense that Wright's. After Sylvia said she had been raped by Akutowicz, oddly, shecontinued to see him. Rollyson also recalls that Sylvia had been attacked by a would-be rapist while at Smith, and actually comforted him in his dejection after she defended herself. This reveals much about the conditioning a young woman would have had at that time, and the pressures Plath faced in her sexual encounters. That Plath liked to think she could handle this kind of a man, as well as a sometimes rough Ted Hughes, reveals a lot about what kind of relationship she was looking for.The final chapter explores the difficulty that biographers have had over the years, because Hughes and his sister Olwen (an absolute nightmare to deal with, from all accounts) used access to certain documents as a way to control what was written. Andrew Wilson (Mad Girl's Love Song) was right in proposing that our perception of Plath's work - what is mature and what is juvenillia - has very much been influenced by Ted Hughes, and her earlier work warrants further attention. In fact, the writing we have has been ruthlessly cut back, not only by Hughes (who claimed to be protecting his children by destroying Plath's last journal) but also Plath's mother Aurelia. No-one wanted to carry the blame of being responsible for Sylvia's death. And who would, after feminists adopted her as their hero, wanting to attach blame somewhere?In discussing how hard Plath found History classes at Smith, Rollyson says, "what made Sylvia Plath great - not just as a poet, but as an imaginative mind - was her profound humility, her submission to history as a subject that has to be mastered."Plath fans will find that they already know a lot of what is in the book, already know she is the Monroe of the literary world, but Rollyson succeeds in making this book a useful, interesting and unique addition to the canon.

Interessante, mas um pouco repetitivo quando remete a outras obras biográficas. Consegue dar uma excelente visão da vida curta e sofrida desta poeta americana