But Plath’s legacy as a feminist icon — one who died just eight days before the publication of The Feminine Mystique — has largely been a patriarchal creation led by her widower Ted Hughes as well as his sister, Olwyn, who was the literary agent for Plath’s estate for decades after her death. In their lifetimes, much to the chagrin of the poet’s fanbase, Plath’s work was edited and manipulated in a way that helped the Hughes family control the growing celebrity Plath achieved in death, in a century that was notoriously tight-lipped about the realities of mental illness, especially among women. (Plath herself died without knowing her own grandmother died alone in an insane asylum some 40 years earlier.) Over a dozen Sylvia Plath biographies have been published in the over half-century since she died. Among the most infamous was Anne Stevenson’s Bitter Fame, believed to be produced in conjunction with Ted and Olwyn, as it painted a horrendous portrait of Plath as the villain in their story. As a result of Plath’s legacy, patriarchally fabricated or not, extending well into the 21st century, more truthful and illuminating accounts of her life have brought light to the subject of a deeply troubled woman who was also multifaceted, fiercely talented, and royally misunderstood in her own lifetime. Here are five Sylvia Plath biographies worth checking out. Note: Since Sylvia Plath’s lifetime was not a particularly inclusive one for people of color (or women, for that matter), few of these titles were written by authors of color and the list does not represent the diverse literary atmosphere we strive for here at Book Riot. Which are your favorite Sylvia Plath biographies?
