My local library is closed (covid restrictions) but I was able to go to my local bookstore which luckily was still open and I saw the biography section had Red Comet about the American writer Sylvia Plath. Took the plunge to get the book and I’m really impressed with the research that went into this. But there’s one overarching question I’m not sure the book will be able to answer and that’s this - did Sylvia Plath become who she was BECAUSE of the obstacles she faced and became famous for it or was her fame and notoriety something that would have been overlooked had she arrived on the scene much later?
Admittedly, I have no idea what that overarching question means.
Well, one of Sylvia Plath’s idols included the German thinker Nietzsche. He theorized that the only way to achieve greatness was to overcome obstacles. Because it’s from overcoming those that allow people to really become better at what they want to be. The saying of his that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is the motto. Sylvia Plath achieved greatness as a poet in an era when women trying to have it all was heavily criticized and looked down upon. She wanted to be a wife, mother and a writer all at the same time. This wasn’t achievable during the decades she lived through. But Sylvia Plath did it. She lived up to Nietzsche’s motto and became a trailblazer for women. The issue I”m raising is whether if Sylvia Plath had come along a lot later say late 80’s or 90’s would her achievements been as great as she had when she killed herself in 1963?
I'm afraid you're still living inside some seminar.
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