Abstract
Heather Clark reveals the powerful impact of Plath biographers. Splicing the words pathology, biography, and Plath’s name, she coins the term P(l)athographers. Clark helps us to understand their cumulative practice of distortedly mythologizing Plath and misdirecting readers’ interpretations of her writing. For Clark, Plath’s English Tripos exam at Cambridge offers us more understanding of Plath’s poetics than her relationship with her dead father ever could.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Sylvia Plath in Context |
| Editors | Tracy Brain |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Chapter | 34 |
| Pages | 360-370 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781108556200 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781108470131, 1108470130 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Publication series
| Name | Literature in Context |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
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Profiles
Heather Clark
- Department of History, English, Linguistics and Music - Professor of Contemporary Poetry
- School of Music, Humanities and Media
- Centre for International Contemporary Poetry - Director
Person: Academic
Cite this
Clark, H. (2019). P(l)athography: Plath and Her Biographers. In T. Brain (Ed.), Sylvia Plath in Context (pp. 360-370). (Literature in Context). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108556200.035