Letters of Plath and Hughes

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/11/sylvia-plath-ted-hughes-letters-therapist

Extract

Part of what makes the story of Plath and Hughes feel so endlessly symbolic is the way it functions as a lightning rod for changing ideas about sexual politics. Letters are almost as central to the cultural story of Plath and Hughes as the poems they wrote to, and about, each other. Twenty years ago, I embarked on a PhD about Plath’s poetry, but became so fascinated by the tug-of-war over her legacy, our culture’s long and determined effort to turn her from an author into a character that I ended up writing a thesis about that story. Now new documents emerge, and the whole tale gets retold – once more, with different feelings.

The facts may alter with new evidence, but mostly it’s our interpretations that have altered. Our ideas – about feminism, marriage, mental illness, suicide and domestic violence – change and with them our attitudes towards Plath and Hughes.

Sympathies shift, from her to him and back again. Just as I was finishing my thesis came the news that Hughes had suddenly published a collection of poems, Birthday Letters, followed soon by Howls & Whispers, an addendum of sorts