EUR  â¬142.80EUR  â¬119.00 excl. VAT
Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
Motherhood in Sylvia Plathâs Work
Series: - Costerus New Series Online, Volume: 152
- Costerus New Series, Volume: 152
Author:
Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking delves deeply into the notion of motherhood in Sylvia Plathâs work in order to redeem Plath from the one-dimensional role assigned to her of the suicidal, father-obsessed poet. Written from the theoretical perspective of Julia Kristevaâs theory of subject formation, the book focuses on Plathâs baby poems in which mother figures are seen as subjects-in-process oscillating between authentication and non-authentication in motherhood. Furthermore, since the mother is always a daughter, part of the discussion centers on Plathâs daughterhood poetry in which daughter figures are engaged in an endless struggle to release themselves from a suffocating maternal hold and achieve their own linguistic individuation. Finally Plathâs works for children, The Bed Book, The-It-Doesnât-Matter Suit, âMrs. Cherryâs Kitchenâ, as well as her fairy tale poems, largely ignored until now, are read as manifestations of the selfâs regressive journey to âonce below a timeâ to grasp an elusive pre-symbolic organization and take signification back to infancy. The book makes extensive use of Plathâs drafts, mainly of the Ariel poems, her recycled materials, annotated books from her personal library, published and unpublished material from The Lilly Library Archive, The Mortimer Rare Book Room, and The Ted Hughes Archive in Emory.
Nephie Christodoulides teaches English, Poetry, and Creative Writing at the University of Cyprus.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One Initiation
Chapter Two Songs of Innocence
Chapter Three Becoming an Earth Mother
Chapter Four Books and Babies and Beef Stews
Chapter Five Between a Smarmy Matriarchy and a Missed Ogre
Chapter Six Motherâs Clutch
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Chapter One Initiation
Chapter Two Songs of Innocence
Chapter Three Becoming an Earth Mother
Chapter Four Books and Babies and Beef Stews
Chapter Five Between a Smarmy Matriarchy and a Missed Ogre
Chapter Six Motherâs Clutch
Bibliography
Index