I am not so sure. I think that depends on the intelligence. In The Savage God, Plath's suicide is like unto a leitmotiv which is presented each time in a different mode. Alvarez successfully communicates the idea that any such gesture is very complex. In Plath's case, it may have been a) a cry for help, b) an aesthetic necessity, c) a way out of an impossible situation, d) the result of psychopathology e) all of the above d) none of the above.
Mostly I wanted to plug that book. I have found it to be worth my time.
I agree with you, but Alvarez does seem to me to be somewhat reductive in his approach, while acknowledging the multifaceted stance or attitude of Plath. I have my own axe to grind on the subject of suicide : I tend towards Ancient Greek attitudes towards living and dying. Christianity somehow made death necessarily ignoble, and that was just one of its crimes against Nature!
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/plath-alvarez.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. But the tired old idea of suicide as a "cry for help" trotted out by tired old Al is an insult to the intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI am not so sure. I think that depends on the intelligence.
ReplyDeleteIn The Savage God, Plath's suicide is like unto a leitmotiv which is presented each time in a different mode. Alvarez successfully communicates the idea that any such gesture is very complex. In Plath's case, it may have been a) a cry for help, b) an aesthetic necessity, c) a way out of an impossible situation, d) the result of psychopathology e) all of the above d) none of the above.
Mostly I wanted to plug that book. I have found it to be worth my time.
I agree with you, but Alvarez does seem to me to be somewhat reductive in his approach, while acknowledging the multifaceted stance or attitude of Plath.
ReplyDeleteI have my own axe to grind on the subject of suicide : I tend towards Ancient Greek attitudes towards living and dying. Christianity somehow made death necessarily ignoble, and that was just one of its crimes against Nature!