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!
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http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/plath-alvarez.html
Thanks 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.
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!
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