A Textual Perspective on the Mythology of Sylvia Plath: The History and Interpretations of "Ariel"

Anton  Belenetsky

doi:10.55225/hcs.680

Auteurs

Anton Belenetsky Jagiellonian University

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.55225/hcs.680

Mots-clés :

Ariel, biography, literary mythology, textual criticism, Plath mythos, Sylvia Plath

Résumé

Sylvia Plath’s posthumous publication of Ariel in 1965 sparked the formation of the Plath mythos, intertwining her tragic death with the reception of her work. While many critics, particularly feminist scholars, attempted to move away from the biography-driven mad woman/genius dichotomy, they often inadvertently perpetuated the mythos by continuing to focus on biographical contexts rather than Plath's creative output. This article examines Marjorie Perloff’s seminal 1984 essay, The Two Ariels, which critiques Ted Hughes’s editorial influence on Ariel by arguing that his rearrangements distorted Plath’s intended narrative of female rage and hope, emphasizing death and despair instead. While Perloff reclaims Plath’s original narrative structure, the article contends that her work still operates within Hughes’s framing, centering on the poems he excluded. The article thus calls for a more rigorous textual critique of Ariel and its paratexts, advocating for a philological approach to offer a more balanced understanding of Plath’s work, free from the constraints of mythologization.

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Biographie de l'auteur

Anton Belenetsky, Jagiellonian University

Anton Belenetskyi is a doctoral student at the Jagiellonian University Doctoral School in the Humanities where he is working on a PhD thesis concerning uncertainty as the principal experience of the Anthropocene as represented in the 21^st-century U.S. and Canadian literature. Although his main academic interests now lie in the intersection of ecocriticism, feminist new materialisms, and broadly understood Anthropocene studies, his master’s thesis was written on the intertwinement of ecological awareness and ecological anxiety in Sylvia Plath’s oeuvre. Outside the world of academia and literature, he prefers to spend his free time rearing (and being reared by) his companion species of choice—common houseplants

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