720: A Discussion of Sylvia Plath's Ariel with Rachael Tillman
episode
The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
1h 25m
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to The Drunken Odyssey of John King, a podcast about the writing life.
Come on. Oh you About a man whose mind and career has careened far and wide and upside down. Computers are seared with crimes against grammar. Whose typographical aggressions are legion, whose words flow into the very mouth of time, and more than a few bottles. Amen. Julie owns a typewriter. Perhaps even a soul.
And now your host, John King.
Welcome to episode seven hundred and twenty of the world's greatest creative writing podcast. If you love literature, contemporary lit and old lit and the stuff in between, this is the place. We also talk about horror films and other miscellaneous topics, but mostly we talk about lit. I still am John King, and on today's show, Rachel Tillman and I discuss the restored edition of Sylvia Plath's Ariel. This edition, which came out in two thousand four, gives to readers the manuscript in its last iteration before Sylvia Plath's death. The version of Ariel that came out in nineteen sixty five. Вас едити бар хазен Тет Хьюз. Which is controversial considering how implicated he was in some of the poems he excised from the text.
For those of you who remember our co-interview with Emily Van Dyne, I asked Emily how to read Ariel without Ted's meddling, and Emily said, read the restored edition. The exact thing I was looking for. Already came out rather a long time ago. All the Sylvia Plathing Rachel and I do on this show touches back on Emily Vantyne's book Loving Sylvia Plath and our conversation with Emily herself. Rather late in the episode I read the poem called Ariel. And you'll hear a beep where I censor a word. I'm not gonna say the word. I hope you approve. Let's get to the conversation. Once again, I'm in the auxiliary headquarters of the Drunken Odyssey Secret Base here with my friend. Rachel Tillman.
Hey John, good to see you again.
We are continuing our study of the legacy of Sylvia Plath, trying to appreciate her career kind of in the order that it happened, with some extra stuff thrown in. Thanks to Emily Van Dyne, even though basic research would have turned this up, but apparently I wasn't capable of that. There is a restored edition of Ariel. So I was asking Emily Van Dyne this Sylvia Plath expert, is there any convenient way to maybe reconfigure the Ariel poems to try and get a dehusified version? And she said, Yeah, buy the book. Because the exact thing I was looking for. Became a book in the year 2004. This is the first time I've read Ariel. I've read all the poems in Ariel, but I read them spread apart in her collected poems, which I read back in the 90s.
What I recommend we do, Rachel, is just try and talk about the poems. as poems and the book as a book. I will mention a few editorial details. Our conversation about our assessment of what Ted Hughes did to the manuscript should probably come after. So let's try and appreciate the restored edition as if it was the edition that we would have gotten. If we were around in sixty five if Plath's wishes were observed when And that book was ready to come out.
Could I also mention the forward by her daughter? And her thoughts in the interview in the back of the book, or is that gonna wait till the end as well?
I guess if I am being pushy about When we're gonna talk about Ted Hughes, I should be flexible about when we're gonna talk about Frida.
Yeah, you don't have to bleep out the word Friday so
This edition was published with the blessing of Frieda Hughes and she participated in the release and wrote the foreword and it's interesting. But you wanted to talk about it, so let me let you have the floor.
I just wanted to say I I like the forward. It was very thoughtful without being overly sentimental. It acknowledged the double edged sword of having Sylvia Plath as a as a mother. First you have this enormous legacy, these incredible poems that she's written. And then of course the nature of her death, the timing, the circumstances. And how young she was when she lost her mother and had to go live with her I I'm guessing with obviously her father.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–6:29
2
What is the restored edition of Ariel and why does it matter?
6:29–14:57
3
How did Ted Hughes edit Ariel and what poems did he remove?
14:57–22:25
4
Why does the foreword by Frida Hughes matter for the new edition?
22:25–30:17
5
What are the major themes in the early poems of Ariel ?
30:17–39:52
6
How does Sylvia Plath use nature and animal imagery in her poems?
39:52–51:22
7
What is the significance of the bee poems at the end of Ariel ?
51:22–1:01:49
8
How does the restored edition change our reading of Ariel’s final poems?
1:01:49–1:25:34
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
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719: A Conversation about Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985) with Shawn McKee!
718: Gilbert King, Plus Laura Lee Baher and Erik Deckers Event!
716: The Kerouac Project of Orlando Book Club Discussion of William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (with Matt Peters)!
715: Henry Hughes!
714: Lara Egger!