ENGL 3550 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sylvia Plath, Fulbright Program, Bell Jar
3 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
From invisible man to lady lazarus and the bell jar. From invisible man to visible woman: part of challenge he is not seen. May not be seeing who she really is, but feels exposed and on show: trauma associated with being seen in the world. Structure of novel imitating the boomerang: what goes around, comes around, in bell jar equivalent image is bell jar itself. To preserve something by depriving it of oxygen. Ellison"s first person narrator: who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, i speak for you? (581) Echoes between sylvia and esther the character: bell jar is not an autobiography, esther is not sylvia but created around some situations sylvia has been thru. Father german born in poland, mother of austrian descent. 1950-55: smith college: prestigious, woman only college. 1982: won mademoiselle fiction competition =; guest editorship, nyc june 1953, returned to boston, suicide attempt. Hospitalized, electro convulsion therapy, returned to smith.
