Lengthy Biographies, James Joyce and Other Letters to the Editor
Sylvia Plath in Paris in the spring of 1956.Credit.Gordon Lameyer/Lilly Library and Elizabeth Lameyer Gilmore
Jan. 8, 2021
To the Editor:
Daphne Merkin is to be lauded for her review of “Red Comet” (Dec. 27), Heather Clark’s new work about the “Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath.” The combination of extraordinary talent and self-destructive behavior culminating in suicide sparks the curiosity of many of us, especially those, like myself, who have spent decades working in the world of mental health. Merkin herself is someone who has suffered her own depression and has shared this with us in many illuminating and provocative works.