Sylvia Plath’s journal writings were first published as

in 1982, almost twenty years after the publication of

, the poetry collection which made her name.

In his introduction to this volume Ted Hughes, who edited the journals with Frances McCullough, presents them very much as the writing of the

poet. In particular he emphasises the authenticity of the “self” presented in these journals:

Ariel and the associated later poems give us the voice of that self. They are the proof that it arrived. All her other writings, except these journals, are the waste product of its gestation… A real self, as we know, is a rare thing. The direct speech of a real self is rarer still… When a real self finds language, and manages to speak, it is surely a

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Citation: Jackson, Anna. "Journals". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 September 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4286, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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