The First American Reviews of The Bell Jar / Book Marks January 14, 2019

Today marks fifty-six years since the first publication of Sylvia Plath’s only novel. A haunted semi-autobiographical tale of a young woman’s spiral into depression and mental illness during a summer interning at a prominent magazine in New York City, The Bell Jar was originally published in Britain under Plath’s pseudonym, Victoria Lucas, before being rereleased under the poet’s own name in 1967. Plath, however, never got to witness the seismic impact her novel, as well as her now-iconic poetry collection Ariel (1965), would go on to have. She took her own life on February 11, less than a month after The Bell Jar first hit shelves.
Though often considered a lesser work than her poetry collections, in the years since Plath’s death The Bell Jar has become a totemic novel for teenage girls and young women around the world. Despite initially being rejected by American publishers (who complained that it lacked plot and cohesion), the book has now sold over 3 million copies in the US and is a staple of high school english classes countrywide.
By the time The Bell Jar finally finally reached American readers in 1971, it was impossible for critics to consider the novel outside of the context of Plath’s suicide and the mythos which had been built up around her tragically short life in the years that followed. This made for some particularly interesting, albeit loaded, criticism.
Below, we look at four of the most intriguing reviews from that year. ... [mehr] https://bookmarks.reviews/the-first-american-reviews-of-sylvia-plaths-the-bell-jar/