SYLVIA PLATH IN DEVON - A YEAR'S TURNING by ELIZABETH SIGMUND and GAIL CROWTHER

A short book with lots of reference books to its credit, SYLVIA PLATH IN DEVON, covers the last year of Sylvia Plath's life.  It's as well the personal memoir of author Elizabeth Sigmund, a friend and neighbor of  the poet. This is the year in which Plath's novel Ariel as well as many of her greatest poems were written. This literary work by Sylvia was about her life that year.

EXCERPTS:

(Pages 68 - 69)  

"There has been much written about the weekend visit of the Wevills in all of Plath's biographies.  It seems any attempt to try and accurately sum up this weekend relies on conjecture, gossip, and stories told long after the event.  Biographies explore the possibility that Assia Wevill travelled to Devon with the express purpose of seducing Ted Hughes, and that while she was there sexual tension between herself and Hughes was evident.  Other reports claim Plath picked up on this attraction and acted appallingly, insisting that the Wevills depart early.  Interestingly, one person who was present at the weekend, David Wevill (Assia's husband), has given his own account stating that he recalls a perfectly pleasant weekend, with Plath charming company and he and Assia departing on the day scheduled.  He did note Plath's nerviness and is quoted in 'Bitter Fame' as stating that often a look of terror would pass across her face as though she was having the most terrible thoughts.,  But he liked Plath and found her good company.  He did not detect anything amiss during the stay in Court Green.  

(Page 70)

"Two days after her visit, Assia Wevill mailed Plath a thank you letter which included a piece of tapestry complete with threat in response to Plath expressing a desire to take up needlepoint...

COMMENTARY BY MISSY

But Ted Hughes did in fact leave his wife and two children and perhaps when and where an affair with Assia began is unknown, but he did have an affair, and it would seem to be a serious one. I do not think that every woman who has an affair with a man should be called a Mistress, that the term is dramatically overused in the media, but I also continually seek to define the term. It's clear that Plath may have sensed something between her husband and Assia, even if a scene or scenes as depicted in the film staring Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath, and apparently many other books dwell on the tense dinner.

EXCERPTS:

(Page 84)

"Returning to Court Green alone and unaware of her husbands whereabouts left Plath in a terrible state.

COMMENTARY: No kidding!  She's an American in a foreign country, married with two small children, one an infant, has no way to support herself and them, is not a feminist, her mother in America is a difficulty person and can't be relied on in that moment.

(Page 84)
At some stage between 19-20 September, Hughes pre-arranged telegram arrived. Whether Plath found out about his whereabouts in Spain at this time is unknown  but on one of these nights, she fled to the home of Winifred Davies in a highly distressed states.  What occurred during those hours is recounted in a letter from Davies to Aurelia Plath.  Plath, it seemed, had realized that Hughes had no intention of returning, and had therefore definably decided upon separation...

COMMENTARY:
This paragraph refers to the expose that Ted had preplanned a vacation trip with Assia to Spain and that he had friends cover for him by sending Sylvia this and that, as if he himself had walked to the mailbox.  Actually he was enjoying himself with Assia without apparent concern for Sylvia's emotional state.

(Page 75 - Covering the previous July before this late September realization.)

COMMENTARY
Plath used the imagery of a "circle a womb of marble" to assert that bareness was a theme that reoccurred in her work and personal letters. "The women that Ted Hughes became involved with are, according to Plath, all barren. This belief of Plath's is interesting and certainly Elizabeth Sigmund recalls that Plath was especially proud of being the bearer of Hughes's children. It was important to her that he was the father, and she felt certain that one of the women he subsequently became involved with in her lifetime intended to have children with him.  Given that Assia Wevill became pregnant just before Plath's death (and subsequently had an abortion), Sigmund believes that if Plath had known of this pregnancy it would have upset her greatly.

(Page 86)

October, London....  ..."Assia Wevill phoned Nathaniel Tarn to talk about her ten days in Spain with Hughes.  She explained how this secret meeting had been arranged as early as August.  Wevill also told Tarn how well she and Hughes worked together and that they were planning to write a film script.

(Page 88)
Ted Hughes arrived  back gome.  Assia Wevill had gone to Germany with her husband and so Hughes decided to leave London and return to Devon...

(Pages 88-89)  Ted Hughes left his marriage and Assia Wevill informed Tarn that she was to be named as co-respondent in the Plath-Hughes divorce.

COMMENTARY

The book states that Hughes and Hughes estate attempted to and did repeatedly aim to censor the truth about Sylvia Plath as well as the terms and conditions of her marriage to Ted Hughes, for the sake of their children perhaps, but more likely his own reputation.
This book looks at archival letters and other documents as well as memories of neighbor and friend Sigmund.  


C 2017 on Commentaries  Mistress Manifesto Blogspot