The Occult Sylvia Plath

The Hidden Spiritual Life of the Visionary Poet

De: Julia Gordon-Bramer

Narrado por: Julia Gordon-Bramer

• 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• Based on more than 15 years of research, including analysis of Plath’s unpublished personal writings from the Plath archives at Indiana University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Sharing her more than 15 years of compelling research—including analysis of Sylvia Plath’s unpublished calendars, notebooks, scrapbooks, book annotations, and underlinings as well as published memoirs, biographies, letters, journals, and interviews with Plath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.

©2024 Julia Gordon-Bramer. All Rights Reserved (P)2024 Inner Traditions Audio. All Rights Reserved.

Listening to this superb biograph is a pleasure!

Julia Gordon-Bramer's unrelentingly excellent biography, The Occult Sylvia Plath, is an absolute pleasure to listen to. As a book--as a scholarly accomplishment--it's a tour-de-force. Gordon-Bramer, utilizing archival evidence as intriguing as it is illuminating, has written a groundbreaking and fascinating account of the greatly unsung importance of mysticism in the life of one of America's greatest poets. In the bargain, she has written a similar account of much of the life of one of England's great poets, and Plath's husband, Ted Hughes.

In another life, the author might have had a profitable career as an audiobook narrator, as listeners would enjoy her vocal gifts, and feel the intelligence behind her adroit reading. Gordon-Bramer's voice, engagingly crisp when pronunciation or emphasis calls for it, is marked above all by its pleasurable resonance. This makes for clear enunciations and inflections which yield up a timbre that often signals, despite her scholarly presentation, an unmistakable depth of feeling underneath. Her years of research in Plathian archives alone demonstrate this book was a labor of love for the author, and so it's doubly gratifying to hear that impassioned respect for its subject become evident as she shares the fruits of her labors with us.

Along those lines, Gordon-Bramer reads at a considered, at times almost stately pace. While she is describing something at length, such as the artists' colony, Yaddo, in Chapter 21 ("The Manor Garden"--marvelously, each chapter is named after a Plath poem!), listening to her at normal speed (1.0) is a pleasant spell to fall under. This is no truer than when she reads lines of poetry, especially, of course, those written by Sylvia Plath. It is in fact recommended that the listener take pains to--rewinding and recalibrating the speed if needed--properly hear such moments. The author is a published poet herself, and thus knows the importance of giving the words of brilliant verse like Plath's their deserved, measured due.

Of course, understandably, many will increase the speed to shorten the time taken. I did this too. Experimenting, I found that I could push it towards 3x and still comprehend all of the author's words.

The author has said her book is a "biography of the mysticism" of the iconic literary couple. Some of the most compelling arguments Gordon-Bramer makes for Plath having a far greater interest in "occult" matters (a word that really just means "hidden," despite a more sinister significance some ascribe to it) is by making use of seldom explored primary sources, such as the words Plath would underline or comments she would scribble in the margins of books she was reading.

Plath was an endlessly interesting person, and, as an "over-achiever," at times almost superhumanly impressive--as was her "match," Ted Hughes, as we see when he is introduced, and Gordon-Bramer provides many engrossing details of their intense and troubled love. She does this while chronicling the at times almost miraculous creativity that they shared, and which was meaningfully fueled by delving into occult practices.

There are so many absorbing elements in this book. On the lighter side we have detailed accounts of Plath's many boyfriends [kept] "on a string," and on the darker side her struggles with her reactions to the world outside and inside of herself. Unlike, apparently, many who write on the relationship between these two literary colossuses, the author treats both Sylvia and Ted with a compassionate fairness.

Gordon-Bramer, in addition to having her own mystical "cred"--being, among other things, a professional tarot card reader, is an award-winning fiction writer and published poet, and so it is unsurprising that her prose here demonstrates a splendidly competent way with words. Her admixture of an obvious depth of feeling underneath tempered by a controlled tone on top reminds me of the pleasures of reading the great historian, Barbara Tuchman. Consider Gordon-Bramer's take on Plath's last day alive:

"It is no secret that Plath was drawn to the dark side. In more vigorous and healthier days, she would have triumphed over it. However, given this series of inimical events that included crippling flu, one of the coldest winters in London on record, the loneliness of separation, and depression, that dark side defeated her..."

I've chosen that passage somewhat ironically, because, while the author mentions (of course) Plath's depression here, the major thrust of this book--of Gordon-Bramer's Plathian scholarship--is to vanquish the image of Sylvia Plath as "just" a brilliant depressive/hysteric, writing ingenious "confessional" poems that are mostly autobiographical. That is still the "accepted" view of her. This book **should** alter that.

From now on, Plath scholars will be negligent if don't at least explore the trail blazed by this author (who has also written more specifically analytical books and articles on Plath's poetry). It is a trail showing how significant Qabalah, Ouija boards, tarot, and other occult practices (and even contemporary and historical events) were to the poet (We find Hughes' charming "Southpaw" remark regarding this here), and how much more richness and meaning her exquisitely crafted and searingly impactful verse can now be seen to yield. Very highly recommended!

Interesting perspective on Plath’s biography

Very interesting and well researched, would recommend to any Sylvia Plath fan. I appreciate hearing a perspective that emphasizes a theme besides mental illness when looking at her life and work. She was a remarkable artist and this biography demonstrates that well.

Fantastic

I bought this audiobook because of my interest in the journeys of those who influence art so greatly. JGB did an exceptional job at narrating her own work. I found it particularly interesting because of my own research and learning of themes like Hermetics, esoterism, occult, alchemy, and such, and JGB argues that Plath's work is rich with occult symbolism, challenging the traditional view of her as merely a "confessional" poet. Gordon-Bramer's research is extensive and above all, interesting. This is a great audiobook for those days when self-reflection and nature/spiritual influence is strong. Listen to it hiking, cleaning, driving, working... It's easy to pick up where you left off. Well done!