Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953

Pain,Parties,WorkbyElizabethWinderisacompellinglookatayoungSylviaPlathandthelife-changingmonththatwouldlaythegroundworkforherseminalnovel,TheBellJar.InMayof1953,atwenty-one-year-oldPlatharrivedinNewYorkCity,theguesteditorofMademoiselle’sannualCollegeIssue.ShelivedattheBarbizonHotel,attendedtheballet,wenttoaYankeegame,anddancedattheWestSideTennisClub.Shewassupposedtobehavingthetimeofherlife.Butwhatwouldfollowwas,inPlath’swords,twenty-sixdaysofpain,parties,andwork,thatultimatelychangedthecourseofherlife.Thoughtfulandilluminating,featuringlinedrawingsandblack-and-whitephotographs,Pain,Parties,Work：SylviaPlathinNewYork,Summer1953offerswell-researchedinsightsasitintroducesustoSylviaPlath—beforeshebecameoneofthegreatestandmostinfluentialpoetsofthetwentiethcentury.