Revising Life: Sylvia Plath's Ariel Poems Book

A fine book of criticism, if not a great one. My assumption that this is largely due to estate/copyright issues. Van Dyne's writing a book based upon Plath's drafting process and what significance that may have with regard to our reading of the Ariel poems: an obviously fascinating premise. Unfortunately, she's hardly able to cite said drafts, and so often her readings feel disjointed or superficial. Then again, at other times she conducts close readings of the published poems without referencing the drafts and so feels unmotivated. Perhaps I'm just misreading the purpose of the book. Perhaps I'm more rigid in my expectations because I'm teaching a freshman seminar on confessional poetry, and wouldn't allow some of Van Dyne's readings to slide by without more evidence in my students' papers. Perhaps I'm just a bit tipsy and so less forgiving.

Also my supposition that she had estate issues may be pure speculation. The structure of the book seemed slightly off to me, as well, inasmuch as the theory didn't always jive with the poetry, and some of the "trend" considerations dated the book.

So in short: quite good. Imperfect. Certainly worth it for any Plath scholar.