Red Comet

by Heather Clark

  60. SP to AP, 24 Sept. 1950. L1, 172.

  61. SP to AP, 25 Sept. 1950. L1, 174.

  62. SP to AP, 24 Sept. 1950. L1, 172.

  63. SP to AP, 26 Sept. 1950. L1, 174.

  64. Ibid.

  65. SP to AP, 30 Sept. 1950. L1, 181.

  66. SP to AP, 26 Sept. 1950. L1, 175.

  67. SP to AP, 27 Sept. 1950. L1, 178.

  68. SP to AP, 26 Sept. 1950. L1, 174. SP’s ellipses.

  69. Ibid., L1, 176–77.

  70. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Peter and Jane Davison, 1973. 1.22, MSS 1489, Emory.

  71. HC interview with Janet Salter Rosenberg, Sept. 2015, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

  72. SP to AP, 26 Sept. 1950. L1, 177.

  73. Margaret Shook, “Sylvia Plath: The Poet and the College,” Smith College Alumnae Quarterly 63.3 (April 1972): 4–9; 7.

  74. SP to AP, 27 Sept. 1950. L1, 178.

  75. SP to AP, 30 Sept. 1950. L1, 181.

  76. Ibid., L1, 182.

  77. SP to AP, 1 Oct. 1950. L1, 184.

  78. SP to AP, 2 Oct. 1950. L1, 185.

  79. SP to AP, 30 Sept. 1950. L1, 182.

  80. SP to AP, 3 Oct. 1950. L1, 186.

  81. SP to AP, 2 Oct. 1950. L1, 185.

  82. SP to AP, 4 Oct. 1950. L1, 187.

  83. SP to AP, 8 Oct. 1950. L1, 190–91.

  84. SP to AP, 9 Oct. 1950. L1, 192–93.

  85. SP to AP, 10 Oct. (#1 & #2) 1950. L1, 194–96.

  86. SP to AP, 12 Oct. 1950. L1, 196.

  87. J, 26–27.

  88. J, 24.

  89. This was a common theme in the recollections of Plath’s Smith peers in the Harriet Rosenstein archive, MSS 1489, Emory.

  90. J, 25.

  91. J, 32.

  92. 8.4, Lilly (c. Sept. 1950–June 1952).

  93. Janet Burroway, Embalming Mom: Essays in Life (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2002), 20.

  94. HC interview with Elinor Friedman Klein, Oct. 2015, South Salem, N.Y.

  95. J, 559.

  96. J, 23.

  97. J, 44.

  98. The poem was written on 14 Nov. 1954.

  99. J, 31.

  100. J, 36.

  101. J, 45.

  102. SP to AP, 23 Oct. 1950. L1, 203.

  103. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Constance Taylor Blackwell, 20 Apr. 1974. 1.9, MSS 1489, Emory.

  104. SP to AP, 20 Oct. 1950. L1, 201.

  105. SP to AP, 23 Oct. 1950. L1, 204–205.

  106. SP to AP, 24 Oct. 1950. L1, 205.

  107. SP to AP, 25 Oct. 1950. L1, 206.

  108. SP to AP, 18 Oct. 1950. L1, 199.

  109. J, 35.

  110. SP to AP, 27 Oct. 1950. L1, 208.

  111. SP to AP, 31 Oct. 1950. L1, 211.

  112. SP to AP, 30 Oct. 1950. L1, 210–11.

  113. SP to AP, 31 Oct. 1950. L1, 213.

  114. HC interview with Louise Giesey White, Aug. 2014, Jamestown, R.I.

  115. SP to AP, 31 Oct. 1950. L1, 212.

  116. SP to AP, 9 Nov. 1950 (#1). L1, 218.

  117. Eddie Cohen to SP, 5 Nov. 1950. Lilly.

  118. Ibid.

  119. SP to AP, 7 Nov. 1950. L1, 218.

  120. SP to AP, 11 Nov. 1950. L1, 221.

  121. SP to AP, 13 Nov. 1950. L1, 222.

  122. SP to AP, 3 Nov. 1950. L1, 215.

  123. SP to AP, 10 Nov. 1950. L1, 220.

  124. HC phone interview with Guy Wilbor, 10 July 2014.

  125. SP to AP, 19 Nov. 1950. L1, 227.

  126. SP to AP, 17 Nov. 1950. L1, 226.

  127. J, 33.

  128. J, 30.

  129. SP to AP, 26 Nov. 1950. L1, 229.

  130. SP to AP, 28 Nov. 1950. L1, 229.

  131. SP to AP, 26 Nov. 1950. L1, 228.

  132. J, 30.

  133. SP to AP, 29 Nov. 1950. L1, 231.

  134. J, 31–32.

  135. J, 32–33.

  136. SP to AP, 1 Dec. 1950. L1, 236.

  137. SP to AP, 10 Dec. 1950. L1, 244.

  138. SP to AP, 3 Dec. 1950. L1, 237–38.

  139. HC phone interview with Guy Wilbor, 10 July 2014.

  140. SP to AP, 15 Dec. 1950. L1, 250.

  141. SP to Ann Davidow, 7 Jan. 1951. L1, 255–66.

  142. Ibid., 255. Last ellipsis is SP’s.

  143. SP, “Tea with Olive Higgins Prouty” (19 July 1955). 9.2, Lilly.

  144. SP to AP, 13 Jan. 1951. L1, 260–61. SP’s ellipsis.

  145. Ibid., L1, 261.

  146. SP to Ann Davidow, c. 12 Jan. 1951. L1, 259.

  147. Ibid., 20 May 1951. L1, 328.

  148. J, 33.

  149. J, 43.

  150. J, 35.

  151. SP, “Den of Lions.” 8.11, Lilly. The story was published in Seventeen in May 1951.

  152. SP to AP, 13 Jan. 1951. L1, 262.

  153. Ibid., L1, 261.

  154. J, 22.

  155. SP to AP, 10 Jan. 1951. L1, 257.

  156. SP to AP, 18 Jan. 1951. L1, 265.

  157. SP to AP, 21 Jan. 1951. L1, 267.

  158. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Marcia Brown Stern, 1972–73. 4.16, MSS 1489, Emory.

  159. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Peter and Jane Davison, 1973. 1.22, MSS 1489, Emory.

  160. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Marcia Brown Stern, 1972–73. 4.16, MSS 1489, Emory.

  161. Ibid. See also Rosenstein’s interview with Enid Epstein Mark, MSS 1489, Emory.

  162. SP to AP, 6 Mar. 1951. L1, 294.

  163. SP to AP, 20 Feb. 1951. L1, 285; SP to Ann Davidow, 14 Feb. 1951. L1, 279.

  164. HC interview with Louise Giesey White, Aug. 2014, Jamestown, R.I.

  165. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Marcia Brown Stern, 1972–73. 4. 16, MSS 1489, Emory.

  166. SP to AP, 31 Jan. 1951. L1, 269.

  167. SP to AP, 3 Mar. 1951. L1, 289.

  168. SP to AP, 10 Mar. 1951. L1, 296.

  169. SP to AP, 8 Feb. 1951. L1, 276.

  170. SP to AP, 1 Mar. 1951. L1, 289.

  171. SP to AP, 5 Mar. 1951. L1, 293.

  172. SP to Ann Davidow, 3 Feb. 1951. L1, 271.

  173. SP to AP, 21 Jan. 1951 (#1 & #2). L1, 267.

  174. SP to AP, 11 Feb. 1951. L1, 278.

  175. SP to AP, 22 Feb. 1951. L1, 286.

  176. Ibid., L1, 287.

  177. SP to AP, 20 Feb. 1951. L1, 284.

  178. Ibid., L1, 285.

  179. SP to Ann Davidow, 5 Mar. 1951. L1, 292.

  180. SP to AP, 19 Feb. 1951. L1, 283.

  181. SP to AP, 20 Feb. 1951. L1, 285; SP to Ann Davidow, 5 Mar. 1951. L1, 291.

  182. SP to Ann Davidow, 5 Mar. 1951. L1, 291.

  183. SP to AP, 5 Mar. 1951. L1, 293.

  184. DN to SP, 1 Mar. 1951. Lilly.

  185. Ibid.

  186. SP to AP, 9 Mar. 1951. L1, 295.

  187. SP to Ann Davidow, 15–16 Mar. 1951. L1, 298. First ellipsis is SP’s.

  188. SP and DN to AP, 10 Mar. 1951. Lilly.

  189. DN to SP, 3 Apr. 1951. Lilly.

  190. SP to AP, 15 May 1951. L1, 322.

  191. SP to AP, 10 Mar. 1951. L1, 296.

  192. SP to Ann Davidow, 9 May 1951. L1, 318.

  193. Eddie Cohen to SP, 19 Mar. 1951. Lilly.

  194. SP to AP, 8 Apr. 1951. L1, 302.

  195. SP to AP, 10 Apr. 1951. L1, 302.

  196. SP to AP, 18 Apr. 1951. L1, 305.

  197. SP to AP, 21 Apr. 1951. L1, 308.

  198. SP to AP, 27 Apr. 1951. L1, 310.

  199. SP to AP, 15 May
1951. L1, 321–22.

  200. SP to AP, 18 Apr. 1951. L1, 305.

  201. Eddie Cohen to SP, 3 May 1951. Lilly.

  202. J, 38.

  203. SP, “Den of Lions.” 8.11, Lilly. Plath’s marginalia is undated.

  204. Eddie Cohen to SP, 3 May 1951. Lilly.

  205. DN to SP, 19 May 1951. Lilly.

  206. DN to SP, 3 May 1951. Lilly.

  207. Eddie Cohen to SP, 6 May 1951. Lilly. Eddie quotes SP in this letter.

  208. SP to AP, 8 May 1951. L1, 315–16.

  209. SP to Marcia Brown, 6 June 1951. L1, 333.

  210. Ibid., L1, 332.

  211. HC interview with Phil McCurdy, May 2016, Ogunquit, Maine.

  212. SP to Marcia Brown, 6 June 1951. L1, 334.

  213. J, 52.

  214. SP to Marcia Brown, 12 June 1951. L1, 335.

  215. Ibid., L1, 336.

  8. LOVE IS A PARALLAX

  1. SP to Marcia Brown, 29 May 1951. L1, 329–30.

  2. SP, “Somebody and We,” 15 Nov. 1951. 10.8, Lilly.

  3. SP to Marcia Brown, 20 June 1951. L1, 341.

  4. SP to Ann Davidow, 26 June 1951. L1, 347.

  5. SP, “Somebody and We.” 10.8, Lilly.

  6. SP to Ann Davidow, 26 June 1951. L1, 349.

  7. SP, “Somebody and We.” 10.8, Lilly.

  8. Reference for SP from Mrs. Mayo, Vocational Office, Smith College Archives.

  9. Andrew Wilson, Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted (New York: Scribner, 2013), 137.

  10. SP, “Somebody and We.” 10.8, Lilly.

  11. SP to Marcia Brown, 20 June 1951. L1, 340.

  12. SP to Ann Davidow, 26 June 1951. L1, 349.

  13. Ibid., L1, 348.

  14. SP to Marcia Brown, 20 June 1951. L1, 340.

  15. SP, “As a Babysitter Sees It,” Christian Science Monitor (6 Nov. 1951), 19.

  16. SP to AP, 6 July 1951. L1, 355.

  17. SP to AP, 4 Aug. 1951. L1, 361.

  18. SP to AP, 19 June 1951. L1, 339.

  19. SP to Ann Davidow, 6 July 1951. L1, 352.

  20. SP to AP, 19 June 1951. L1, 338–39.

  21. J, 69.

  22. J, 76–77.

  23. SP to Mel Woody, 22 June 1951. L1, 345.

  24. J, 78.

  25. J, 90.

  26. J, 85.

  27. SP, “Somebody and We.” 10.8, Lilly.

  28. Ibid.

  29. SP to Mel Woody, 22 June 1951. L1, 346.

  30. Anitas Helle makes this connection in “Electroshock Therapy and Plath’s Convulsive Poetics” in Sylvia Plath in Context, Tracy Brain, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 264–74; 267.

  31. SP, “I Am An American.” 7.12, Lilly. Part of this poem appears in SP to Mel Woody, 22 June 1951. L1, 346.

  32. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Marcia Brown Stern, 1972. 4.16, MSS 1489, Emory.

  33. Anne Harrington, Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness (New York: Norton, 2019), 93–94.

  34. J, 64–65.

  35. Harriet Rosenstein interview with Marcia Brown Stern, 1972. 4.16, MSS 1489, Emory.

  36. The translation he read to her was by Jesse Lamont, published by Fine Editions Press, 1945. Mel was adamant that this episode occurred in 1951, during Sylvia and Marcia’s nannying summer, and not during the summer of 1953 as previous biographers have reported. He said this was the only time (1951) he ever went to the beach with both women. He was in Ohio during the whole summer of 1953.

  37. HC interview with Mel Woody, 17 Sept. 2018, Lyme, Conn.

  38. SP to Marcia Brown, 21 June 1951. L1, 345.

  39. SP to AP, 20 Aug. 1951. L1, 365.

  40. SP to AP, 23 Aug. 1951. L1, 366. SP’s ellipsis.

  41. J, 93; J, 91.

  42. J, 71.

  43. J, 77.

  44. J, 88. SP’s ellipsis.

  45. Eddie Cohen to SP, 16 Sept. 1951. Lilly.

  46. SP to Marcia Brown, 11 Sept. 1951. L1, 368.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Ibid., L1, 369.

  49. SP to Ann Davidow, 12 Sept. 1951. L1, 371.

  50. Ibid., L1, 371–72.

  51. SP to AP, 26 Nov. 1951. L1, 400.

  52. SP to Ann Davidow, 12 Sept. 1951. L1, 372.

  53. SP to Marcia Brown, 11 Sept. 1951. L1, 369.

  54. Eddie Cohen to SP, 16 Sept. 1951. Lilly.

  55. Conversation with Don Colburn (Dick Norton’s brother-in-law), Jan. 2017, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

  56. SP to Marcia Brown, 11 Sept. 1951. L1, 369–70.

  57. J, 306.

  58. SP to AP, 27 Sept. 1951. L1, 374.

  59. Ibid., L1, 373.

  60. DN to SP, 3 Oct. 1951. Lilly.

  61. SP to AP, 21 Oct. 1951. L1, 389.

  62. SP to AP, 8 Oct. 1951. L1, 375–81.

  63. SP to AP, 14 Oct. 1951. L1, 384.

  64. DN to SP, 14 Oct. 1951. Lilly.

  65. Eddie Cohen to SP, 26 Oct. 1951. Lilly.

  66. Ibid.

  67. SP to AP, 20 Oct. 1951 (#2). L1, 388.

  68. SP to AP, 20 Oct. 1951 (#1). L1, 387.

  69. SP to AP, 21 Oct. 1951. L1, 388.

  70. DN to SP, 29 Oct. 1951. Lilly.

  71. DN to SP, 17 Nov. 1951. Lilly.

  72. SP to AP, 9 Dec. 1951. L1, 405.

  73. SP to AP, 2 Nov. 1951. L1, 392.

  74. SP to AP, 29 Oct. 1951. L1, 392.

  75. Ibid., L1, 391.

  76. SP, Smith scrapbook. 10.O8, Lilly.

  77. SP to AP, 29 Oct. 1951. L1, 392.

  78. SP to AP, 2 Dec. 1951. L1, 401.

  79. SP to AP, 5 Dec. 1951. L1, 402.

  80. SP to AP, 2 Dec. 1951. L1, 401.

  81. SP to AP, 5 Dec. 1951. L1, 401–402.

  82. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 416.

  83. Harriet Rosenstein interview with William Sterling, 1972. 4.14, MSS 1489, Emory.

  84. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 416–17.

  85. Eddie Cohen to SP, 26 Oct. 1951. Lilly.

  86. SP, Smith scrapbook. 10.O8, Lilly.

  87. Wilson, Mad Girl’s Love Song, 151.

  88. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 415.

  89. DN to SP, 13 Jan. 1952. Lilly.

  90. DN to AP, 21 Jan. 1952. Lilly.

  91. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 418.

  92. SP to AP, 23 Jan. & 8 Feb. 1952. L1, 410; 412.

  93. SP to AP, 23 Jan. 1952. L1, 410.

  94. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 418.

  95. SP to AP, 6 Feb. 1952. L1, 412.

  96. Eddie Cohen to SP, 13 Feb. 1952. Lilly.

  97. DN to SP, 16 Jan. 1952. Lilly.

  98. SP to AP, 9–11 Feb. 1952. L1, 413.

  99. SP to Ann Davidow, 18 Feb. 1952. L1, 416.

  100. DN to SP, 13–15 Feb. 1952. Lilly.

  101. DN to SP, 25 Feb. 1952. Lilly.

  102. SP to AP, 25 Feb. 1952. L1, 421.

  103. SP to Ann Davidow, 21 Mar. 1952. L1, 431.

  104. J, 101–102.

  105. DN to SP, 13–15 Apr. 1952. Lilly.

  106. SP to AP, 16 Mar. 1952. L1, 427.

  107. DN to SP, 24 Apr. 1952. Lilly.

  108. DN to SP, 5 May 1952. Lilly.

  109. DN to SP, 13–15 Apr. 1952. Lilly.

  110. J, 102.

  111. J, 105.

  112. J, 106–107.

  113. SP to Ann Davidow, 21 Mar. 1952. L1, 432.

  114. SP to AP, 4 Mar. 1952. L1, 424.

  115. SP to AP, 30 Apr. 1952. L1, 440.

&nb
sp; 116. SP, Smith scrapbook. 10.O8, Lilly.

  117. HC phone interview with Guy Wilbor, 10 July 2014.

  118. SP to AP, 30 Apr. 1952. L1, 439.

  119. The story has not survived in completion.

  120. SP to AP, 6 Mar. 1952. L1, 425. Plath’s article, which is unattributed but which she references in the same letter to Aurelia, is “ ‘Heresy Hunts’ Menace Liberty: Struik Claims,” Springfield Union (4 Mar. 1952), 2.

  121. Peter Steinberg believes that Plath wrote two unattributed articles about Nash’s visit, “Ogden Nash’s Rhyming Knack Makes Up for His Talent Lack,” Springfield Union (1 May 1952), 30; and “Ogden Nash Is Speaker,” Daily Hampshire Gazette (2 May 1953), 6.

  122. SP to AP, 11 May 1952. L1, 443.

  123. HC interview with Janet Salter Rosenberg, Sept. 2015, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

  124. SP to AP, 9 Apr. 1952. L1, 436.

  125. Eddie Cohen to SP, 11 May 1952. Lilly.

  126. Evelyn Page to Harriet Rosenstein, c. 7 Feb. 1972. 3.1, MSS 1489, Emory.

  127. 10.8, Lilly. The class was divided into three units: Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. In addition to her academic assignments, Plath was required to visit a synagogue and attend a Mass.

  128. 10.8, Lilly.

  129. Ibid.

  130. JP, 148–59.

  131. 8.18, Lilly.

  132. JP, 153.

  133. DN to SP, 21 Apr. 1952. Lilly.

  134. SP to AP, 11 May 1952. L1, 443.

  135. Ibid., L1, 444.

  136. DN to SP, 13 May 1952. Lilly.

  137. Eddie Cohen to SP, 11 May 1952. Lilly.

  138. SP to Ann Davidow, 21 Mar. 1952. L1, 431.

  139. Ibid.

  140. SP to Marcia Brown, 8 July 1952. L1, 464.

  141. SP to AP, 12 June 1952. L1, 448.

  142. SP to AP, 10 June 1952. L1, 446.

  143. SP to AP, 12 June 1952. L1, 449.

  144. Ibid., L1, 450.

  145. Ibid., L1, 449.

  146. SP to AP, 21 June 1952. L1, 456–57.

  147. SP to AP, 12 June 1952. L1, 450.

  148. SP to AP, 10 June 1952. L1, 447.

  149. SP to AP, 12 June 1952. L1, 447.

  150. SP to AP, 14–15 June 1952. L1, 452.

  151. Ibid., L1, 451.

  152. Ibid., L1, 451–52.

  153. SP to AP, 16 June 1952. L1, 453.

  154. Ibid., L1, 454.

  155. SP to AP, 21 June 1952. L1, 456.

  156. SP to AP, 18 June 1952. L1, 455.

  157. Paul Alexander and Anne Stevenson both mistakenly identified Phil Brawner as Phil McCurdy in their biographies.

  158. SP to Marcia Brown, 8 July 1952. L1, 464.