About the Book
• Decodes the alchemical, Qabalistic, hermetic, spiritual, and Tarot-related references in many of Plath’s poems
• Based on more than 15 years of research, including analysis of Plath’s unpublished personal writings from the Plath archives at Indiana University
• Examines the influences of Plath’s parents, her early interests in Hermeticism, and her and husband Ted Hughes’s explorations in the supernatural and the occult
Sharing her more than 15 years of compelling research—including analysis of Sylvia Plath’s unpublished calendars, notebooks, scrapbooks, book annotations, and underlinings as well as published memoirs, biographies, letters, journals, and interviews with Plath and her husband, friends, and family—Plath scholar Julia Gordon-Bramer reveals Sylvia Plath’s enduring interest and active practice in mysticism and the occult from childhood until her tragic death in 1963. She examines Plath’s early years growing up in a transcendentalist Unitarian church under a brilliant, if stern, Freemason father and a mother who wrote her master’s dissertation on the famous alchemist Paracelsus. She reveals Plath’s early knowledge of Hermeticism, how she devoured books on the occult throughout her life, and how, since adolescence, Plath regularly wrote of premonitory dreams. Examining Plath’s tumultuous marriage with poet Ted Hughes, she looks at their explorations in the supernatural and Hughes’s mentoring of Plath in meditation, crystal-gazing, astrology, Qabalah, tarot, automatic writing, magical workings, and use of the Ouija board.
Looking at Plath’s writing and her evolution as a person through mystical, political, personal, and historical lenses, Gordon-Bramer shows how Plath’s poems take on radically new, surprising, and universal meanings—explaining why Hughes perpetually denied that Plath was a “confessional poet.” Contrasting the versions in Letters Home with those held in the Plath archives at Indiana University, the author also shows how all occult influences have been rigorously excised from the letters approved for publication by the Plath and Hughes estates. Revealing previously undiscovered meanings deeply rooted in her mystical and occult endeavors, the author shows how Plath’s writings are much broader than the narrow lens of her tragic autobiography.
Table of Contents:
Preface: Missing the Mysticism
PART ONE
Sylvia Plath
1 “April Aubade”
2 “Love Is a Parallax”
3 “Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea”
4 “Family Reunion”
5 “Denouement”
6 “Aerialist”
7 “Black Pine Tree in an Orange Light”
8 “Morning in the Hospital Solarium”
9 “Notes to a Neophyte”
10 “Dialogue En Route”
PART TWO
Ted Hughes
11 “Ode to Ted”
12 “Sonnet to Satan”
13 “Firesong”
PART THREE
Plath and Hughes, Together
14 “Pursuit”
15 “Wreath for a Bridal”
16 “Bucolics”
17 “The Lady and the Earthenware Head”
18 “Ouija”
19 “A Winter’s Tale”
20 “Electra on Azalea Path”
21 “The Manor Garden”
22 “Magi”
23 “Parliament Hill Fields”
24 “The Moon and the Yew Tree”
25 “Three Women”
26 “Burning the Letters”
27 “Fever 103°”
28 “Edge”
PART FOUR
After Plath
29 “Contusion”
30 “Gigolo”
31 “Mystic”
32 “Words”
Acknowledgments
Primary Sources: Abbreviation List
Sylvia’s Library
Index
About the Author :
Julia Gordon-BramerJulia Bramer is a Sylvia Plath scholar, professional tarot card reader, award-winning writer and poet, and former professor for the Graduate Writing Program at Lindenwood University. She is the author of several books, including Fixed Stars Govern a Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath and Tarot Life Lessons. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Review :
“If you think you know Plath, you are mistaken—this deep and extensively researched study provides a critical piece of the spiritual and supernatural forces that fueled Plath’s creative imagination.”
“The Occult Sylvia Plath is the rarest of biographies: both a work of original groundbreaking scholarship and a page-turning narrative that carries the reader along on a captivating ride. Gordon-Bramer explores the little-known occult obsessions of the famed poet that other Plath biographers have largely ignored, using a revolutionary approach to deconstruct both her poetry and her troubled marriage to Ted Hughes. Whether you’re a Plath scholar or a casual reader, you won’t be able to stop reading until you reach the end.”
“Julia Gordon-Bramer has established herself as one of the world’s leading authorities on both Sylvia Plath and tarot. Her latest book propels her talent to a higher realm as she shares incredible new insights into one of the world’s most elusive artists, poet Sylvia Plath. I applaud Gordon-Bramer for bringing Plath’s work to life through an expertly crafted biography that will keep Plath’s work alive for future generations. A fascinating read! I highly recommend this book to Sylvia Plath followers around the world and to those just discovering her work.”
“A significant new addition to Plath biographies. The Occult Sylvia Plath takes a holistic approach to the various influences—from politics, religion, literature, and occult symbols—on the mystical elements of Plath’s life and art. Gordon-Bramer highlights that ‘magic, for Plath, was not faith’ but a ‘multidimensional mystical system of language,’ which is crucial in understanding the gravity of her poetry and the diverse sources that influenced her beliefs, life, and work.”
“Gordon-Bramer’s research asserts itself as filling that gap previously untended in Plath scholarship, and she writes with flourish and passion. This is a Plath we need, and Gordon-Bramer’s work is to provide us with the lenses to see her more completely. Once you’ve seen the mystical Plath, you can’t unsee her.”
“A vital, freewheeling journey through Plath’s esoteric path, a path that burned with white-hot intensity when she and Ted Hughes united. Written with the verve of a novelist and the sharp accuracy of an academic, this book dexterously traverses the occult influences that informed Plath’s creativity to offer thrilling new insight.”
“This book is so much more than an in-depth look at the occult aspect of Sylvia Plath’s work. There is serious food for thought for anyone involved in metaphysics or in navigating dual creativity in a love relationship. If you’re curious about Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes start here. If you are a Plath fan this is a must-read.”
“As if drawing aside a veil Gordon-Bramer reveals a world of esoteric correspondences in the works of Sylvia Plath with both the rigor of academic training and the comprehension only personal experience of the occult can provide. This book provides keys to deeper meanings and enlightening context.”
“To this detailed retelling of Sylvia Plath’s life, Gordon-Bramer brings her expertise in spiritualism to provide new insights on the central role of the occult in Plath’s major writings.”
“Fascinating story of a great artist at work, rearranging life in accordance with mystical schema, before triumphantly striking the alchemical ‘fat gold’ of the Ariel poems.”
