Is The Bell Jar judged fairly, or are we judging Sylvia Plath more than the novel?
I’ve noticed that discussions about the bell jar often turn into discussions about Sylvia Plath herself which tbh is fair since you can never separate the art from the artist .
On one side, people argue that Plath was deeply flawed. They point to passages in her journals and letters, along with parts of her fiction, and describe her as unlikeable, fatphobic, racist, elitist, or cruel. For them, those aspects make it difficult to separate the author from the work.
On the other side, there’s a tendency to romanticize her almost entirely because of her poetry, her struggles with mental illness, and her tragic death. Sometimes it feels as though her life has become part of the mythology surrounding her, making criticism of her feel almost off-limits.
So where do you draw the line? And which side are you on ?