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Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar portrays the complexities of female identity and the pernicious outcomes of societal pressure on mental health. At its core, the novel presents an exploration of female anxiety and the ways in which societal expectations and gender norms contribute to the erosion of one's mental well-being. Through the lens of feminist psychoanalysis, this thesis will claim that the novel's recurring motifs of confinement and anxiety – including its central image of the bell jar – function not only as an expression of Esther's mental illness, but also as a social commentary. More specifically, it will argue that these motifs make visible how Esther's anxiety and depression are the result of the interplay between external pressure and internal struggles. Since the novel is often regarded as a roman à clef, this essay will furthermore argue that these motifs are the result of Sylvia Plath's unconscious.

Inicialmente publicado em 1963 sob o pseudônimo Victoria Lucas, A redoma de vidro traz como personagem principal e narradora Esther Greenwood, a qual faz duras críticas aos papeis atribuídos às mulheres nos Estados Unidos nos anos 1950, enquanto passa por um colapso, que culmina em tentativa de suicídio. Depois de o romance ser republicado, reconhecendo a autoria de Sylvia Plath, na Inglaterra em 1966 e nos Estados Unidos em 1971, ele foi objeto de diversas leituras críticas feministas, sendo mais recente o enfoque no romance como estudo de caso. Nesta dissertação, busco estabelecer um diálogo entre essas duas abordagens, relacionando gênero, feminismo, melancolia e trauma, fundamentando-me nos escritos de teóricos como Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud e Nicolas Abraham e Maria Torok. Apesar de falarem de diferentes loci, ambas Irigaray e Caruth dão especial atenção à linguagem. No romance, Esther perde sua capacidade de ler e escrever, fato que está ligado não só às suas críticas a um mundo pertencente aos homens como também a certos acontecimentos que desencadeiam essa perda. Tendo isso em mente, relaciono a narrativa a dois contos de Plath: “Línguas de Pedra” e “Mães.” O primeiro, de 1955, traz uma personagem (sem nome) em um cenário semelhante ao de A redoma de vidro: em um hospital psiquiátrico, ela apresenta dificuldades de ler e de pensar. No segundo conto, escrito em 1962, a situação da protagonista, também Esther, pode ser comparada ao presente da narrativa de A redoma de vidro; ademais, uma vez estabelecido o paralelo, a personagem do conto parece apresentar uma perda ainda mais profunda da linguagem que a protagonista do romance. / Initially published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, The Bell Jar has as its protagonist and narrator Esther Greenwood, who seriously criticizes the roles attributed to women in the United States in the 1950s. At the same time, she is going through a breakdown, which culminates in a suicide attempt. After the novel was republished, under Sylvia Plath’s name, in England in 1966 and in the United States in 1971, it was the subject of several feminist critical readings, its focus as a case study being more recent. In this thesis, I aim to establish a dialogue between these two approaches, relating gender, feminism, melancholia, and trauma, grounded in the writings of theorists such as Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud, and Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok. In spite of speaking from different loci, both Irigaray and Caruth give special attention to language. In the novel, Esther loses her ability to read and write, a fact that is connected not only to her critiques of a world that belongs to men but also to certain events that lead to this loss. With this in mind, I relate the narrative to two of Plath’s short stories: “Tongues of Stone” and “Mothers.” The first, from 1955, displays its main (nameless) character in a setting that is similar to The Bell Jar’s: in a psychiatric hospital, she presents difficulties to read and think. In the second story, written in 1962, the protagonist, also named Esther, is in a situation that may be compared to the narrative present of The Bell Jar; furthermore, once a parallel with the novel is established, the story’s character seems to present an even more profound loss of language than the novel’s protagonist.

Inicialmente publicado em 1963 sob o pseudônimo Victoria Lucas, A redoma de vidro traz como personagem principal e narradora Esther Greenwood, a qual faz duras críticas aos papeis atribuídos às mulheres nos Estados Unidos nos anos 1950, enquanto passa por um colapso, que culmina em tentativa de suicídio. Depois de o romance ser republicado, reconhecendo a autoria de Sylvia Plath, na Inglaterra em 1966 e nos Estados Unidos em 1971, ele foi objeto de diversas leituras críticas feministas, sendo mais recente o enfoque no romance como estudo de caso. Nesta dissertação, busco estabelecer um diálogo entre essas duas abordagens, relacionando gênero, feminismo, melancolia e trauma, fundamentando-me nos escritos de teóricos como Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud e Nicolas Abraham e Maria Torok. Apesar de falarem de diferentes loci, ambas Irigaray e Caruth dão especial atenção à linguagem. No romance, Esther perde sua capacidade de ler e escrever, fato que está ligado não só às suas críticas a um mundo pertencente aos homens como também a certos acontecimentos que desencadeiam essa perda. Tendo isso em mente, relaciono a narrativa a dois contos de Plath: “Línguas de Pedra” e “Mães.” O primeiro, de 1955, traz uma personagem (sem nome) em um cenário semelhante ao de A redoma de vidro: em um hospital psiquiátrico, ela apresenta dificuldades de ler e de pensar. No segundo conto, escrito em 1962, a situação da protagonista, também Esther, pode ser comparada ao presente da narrativa de A redoma de vidro; ademais, uma vez estabelecido o paralelo, a personagem do conto parece apresentar uma perda ainda mais profunda da linguagem que a protagonista do romance. / Initially published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, The Bell Jar has as its protagonist and narrator Esther Greenwood, who seriously criticizes the roles attributed to women in the United States in the 1950s. At the same time, she is going through a breakdown, which culminates in a suicide attempt. After the novel was republished, under Sylvia Plath’s name, in England in 1966 and in the United States in 1971, it was the subject of several feminist critical readings, its focus as a case study being more recent. In this thesis, I aim to establish a dialogue between these two approaches, relating gender, feminism, melancholia, and trauma, grounded in the writings of theorists such as Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud, and Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok. In spite of speaking from different loci, both Irigaray and Caruth give special attention to language. In the novel, Esther loses her ability to read and write, a fact that is connected not only to her critiques of a world that belongs to men but also to certain events that lead to this loss. With this in mind, I relate the narrative to two of Plath’s short stories: “Tongues of Stone” and “Mothers.” The first, from 1955, displays its main (nameless) character in a setting that is similar to The Bell Jar’s: in a psychiatric hospital, she presents difficulties to read and think. In the second story, written in 1962, the protagonist, also named Esther, is in a situation that may be compared to the narrative present of The Bell Jar; furthermore, once a parallel with the novel is established, the story’s character seems to present an even more profound loss of language than the novel’s protagonist.

Inicialmente publicado em 1963 sob o pseudônimo Victoria Lucas, A redoma de vidro traz como personagem principal e narradora Esther Greenwood, a qual faz duras críticas aos papeis atribuídos às mulheres nos Estados Unidos nos anos 1950, enquanto passa por um colapso, que culmina em tentativa de suicídio. Depois de o romance ser republicado, reconhecendo a autoria de Sylvia Plath, na Inglaterra em 1966 e nos Estados Unidos em 1971, ele foi objeto de diversas leituras críticas feministas, sendo mais recente o enfoque no romance como estudo de caso. Nesta dissertação, busco estabelecer um diálogo entre essas duas abordagens, relacionando gênero, feminismo, melancolia e trauma, fundamentando-me nos escritos de teóricos como Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud e Nicolas Abraham e Maria Torok. Apesar de falarem de diferentes loci, ambas Irigaray e Caruth dão especial atenção à linguagem. No romance, Esther perde sua capacidade de ler e escrever, fato que está ligado não só às suas críticas a um mundo pertencente aos homens como também a certos acontecimentos que desencadeiam essa perda. Tendo isso em mente, relaciono a narrativa a dois contos de Plath: “Línguas de Pedra” e “Mães.” O primeiro, de 1955, traz uma personagem (sem nome) em um cenário semelhante ao de A redoma de vidro: em um hospital psiquiátrico, ela apresenta dificuldades de ler e de pensar. No segundo conto, escrito em 1962, a situação da protagonista, também Esther, pode ser comparada ao presente da narrativa de A redoma de vidro; ademais, uma vez estabelecido o paralelo, a personagem do conto parece apresentar uma perda ainda mais profunda da linguagem que a protagonista do romance. / Initially published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, The Bell Jar has as its protagonist and narrator Esther Greenwood, who seriously criticizes the roles attributed to women in the United States in the 1950s. At the same time, she is going through a breakdown, which culminates in a suicide attempt. After the novel was republished, under Sylvia Plath’s name, in England in 1966 and in the United States in 1971, it was the subject of several feminist critical readings, its focus as a case study being more recent. In this thesis, I aim to establish a dialogue between these two approaches, relating gender, feminism, melancholia, and trauma, grounded in the writings of theorists such as Luce Irigaray, Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud, and Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok. In spite of speaking from different loci, both Irigaray and Caruth give special attention to language. In the novel, Esther loses her ability to read and write, a fact that is connected not only to her critiques of a world that belongs to men but also to certain events that lead to this loss. With this in mind, I relate the narrative to two of Plath’s short stories: “Tongues of Stone” and “Mothers.” The first, from 1955, displays its main (nameless) character in a setting that is similar to The Bell Jar’s: in a psychiatric hospital, she presents difficulties to read and think. In the second story, written in 1962, the protagonist, also named Esther, is in a situation that may be compared to the narrative present of The Bell Jar; furthermore, once a parallel with the novel is established, the story’s character seems to present an even more profound loss of language than the novel’s protagonist.

Following a close reading strategy, the research seeks to discover what the intratextual relations of each selected poem, three by Ingrid Jonker and three by Sylvia Plath, reveal. Flowing from the thematic overlaps that exist between the selected Jonker poems and Plath poems, it explores what similarities or differences in poetic form, the use of poetic devices and content, in other words intratextual relations, can be discovered via a comparison. Given that Jonker and Plath were contemporaries and shared biographical events, and after having considered and compared the intratextual relations of the selected poems, the research seeks to show what similarities or differences can be discovered in the exploration and comparison of the intertextual and extratextual relations of the selected poems. Thus, the thesis’ critical approach includes the close investigation of the structure of each of the selected poems, in order to discover its communication first, before delving into biographical, historical, social, political, and thematic approaches and interpretations. The research reveals that exercises of close reading, with a few exceptions, have not been the main focus in the discussion of either poet’s poetry. In other words, context has, for the most part, been favoured over text and over form. What the research reveals is that there are overlaps in the intratextual, intertextual, and extratextual relations of the selection of poems, but also differences. A comparison of intratextual relations reveals Plath’s formal training in comparison to Jonker’s largely informal training, for example, and that generally Plath was the more disciplined author of the two. The intertextual and extratextual relations of each poem (and how these relations compare) reveal and highlight that the selection of poems is a reflection or sampling of the poets’ ‘own’ voices. It also reveals the development of their maturity as writers and the development of themes across their poetry and collections of poems. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Afrikaans / unrestricted

Spanning forty years apart, the short story “Miss Sophia’s Diary” (1926) by Ding Ling and The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath can speak to one another in revealing the position of women in a revolutionary new era. The two stories may be generationally and geographically distant, yet both hold a collective female consciousness in the context of the emerging modernist epoch. By examining these two pieces of literature in relation to one another, similar attitudes and stylistic trends emerge regarding the treatment of women. The common archetypes, for each respective time and country, imprinted onto women are at some points accepted but also rejected in these two female-focused stories. In disregarding many of the traits associated with the modern woman, Ling and Plath mold a unique feminine persona to capture the essence of what a true woman can and should be. Not only does the likeness of the works contribute in establishing a global feminist ideal, it is in the differences where cultural and generational attitudes can be investigated. What the pillar of feminism represented in early 1920s China differs significantly from 1950s United States of America. Though these differences can be signs of progression for woman’s rights, there are many of the same anxieties surrounding women that have lingered on for decades. This thesis will conduct a comparative study on how the “Miss Sophia’s Diary” and The Bell Jar posses the unique variations of the modern woman. Furthermore, with the use of a web-based corpus analysis program, this thesis sets out to probe selections from both works linguistically. Doing so will uphold a clearer image as to each texts’ word associations when discussing women and can further reveal how the construction of each female persona compares to one another. Overall, this thesis dismantles borders of both time and space to expose the true meaning behind the modern woman’s role in a largely demeaning and patriarchal world.

This study takes as its focus Ted Hughes’s composition techniques throughout his career, arguing that his self-conscious experimentation with the processes by which he wrote affected the style and subject matter of his work. Hughes’s poetry has lent itself to a number of familiar critical approaches, focusing on his preoccupation with mythology, his interaction with the natural world and his creative partnership with his first wife, Sylvia Plath. Yet no study, until now, has looked systematically at his literary drafts and the extent to which Hughes’s method of composition radically altered during his writing career. Archive material at Emory University, accessible since 2000, and new archive materials held at the British Library and made available for study for the first time in 2010, have opened up possibilities for much greater depth of research into Hughes’s writing processes and the birth and evolution of individual poems. By engaging with these materials, my research complements new studies which are tackling under-examined areas of Hughes’s work, whilst contributing more broadly to an increased awareness of the central importance of archival work in the study of literature. Literary manuscript drafts have often been used to study writers whose writing methods consciously foreground the drafting process. Whilst Hughes has not previously been considered in this light, my original investigations into his archival materials reveal a poet for whom the nature of the compositional process was a central concern which defines and redefines his poetry across his career.

The Master's Thesis deals with the theme of coming-of-age in American literature. The aim of the theoretical part is to provide theoretical framework and the subsequent examination of common narrative strategies and themes characteristic of this specific genre. We will focus more closely on the three key themes of identity, sexuality and death. In the practical part of this thesis these main themes and their use will be examined in selected novels of American literature; Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides.

Mad Pursuits: Therapeutic Narration in Postwar American Fiction examines three mid-century American novels—J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951), Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952), and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963)—in relation to the rise and popularization of psychoanalytic theory in America. The study historicizes these landmark novels as representing and interrogating postwar America’s confidence in the therapeutic capacity of narrative to redress psychological problems. Drawing on key concepts from narrative theory and the multidisciplinary field of narrative and identity studies, I argue that these texts develop a multi-layered, formal problematization of therapeutic narration: the narrativization of the self through modes of interpretation based on character action and development. The study, thus, investigates how the texts both critique the purported effectiveness of being healed through narrative means, as well as how they problematize their society’s investment in this method. I propose that the novels ultimately explore submerged possibilities for realizing what I call fugitive selves by creating self-representations that negotiate and exceed the confines of the paradigmatic models of plot and character of the period. In Chapter One, I argue that the ego and pop psychological movements during the postwar era encouraged the American public to define and realize psychological health, success and happiness through narrativized means. I show in Chapter Two how careful differentiation between narrative levels of interpretation in The Bell Jar reveals the novel’s complication of the self created in narrative, with and against the socio-cultural scripts and therapeutic assumptions of the period. Chapter Three concentrates on The Catcher in the Rye’s various methods of de-composing the narrative identity of the subject created through developmental and therapeutic narration. In the final chapter, I read Invisible Man as a satire of postwar psychoanalytic theory and method specifically concerning racialized narrative identities, and as a reflection on a method of enduring psychological illness. The Conclusion brings together several argumentative strands running throughout the dissertation regarding what the novels contrastively reveal about the perils, and even the possibilities, inherent in the narrativizing of the self in early postwar America.