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Re-Reading Sylvia Plath Through the Bell Jar

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Re-Reading Sylvia Plath Through the Bell Jar T.C. DOKUZ EYLÜL ÜN İVERS İTES İ SOSYAL B İLİMLER ENST İTÜSÜ BATI D İLLER İ VE EDEB İYATI ANAB İLİM DALI AMER İKAN KÜLTÜRÜ VE EDEB İYATI PROGRAMI DOKTORA TEZ İ RE-READING SYLVIA PLATH THROUGH THE BELL JAR Esin KUMLU Danı şman Yrd. Doç. Dr. Nuray ÖNDER 2010 ii YEMIN METNI Doktora Tezi olarak sundu ğum “RE-READING SYLVIA PLATH THROUGH THE BELL JAR ” adlı çalı şmanın, tarafımdan, bilimsel ahlak ve geleneklere aykırı dü şecek bir yardıma ba şvurmaksızın yazıldı ğını ve yararlandı ğım eserlerin kaynakçada gösterilenlerden olu ştu ğunu, bunlara atıf yapılarak yararlanılmı ş oldu ğunu belirtir ve bunu onurumla do ğrularım. Tarih ..../..../....... Esin KUMLU İmza iii ABSTRACT Doctoral Thesis Re-Reading Sylvia Plath through The Bell Jar Esin KUMLU Dokuz Eylül University Institute of Social Sciences Department of Western Languages American Culture and Literature Program Although the name Sylvia Plath has always been associated with schizophrenia, madness, trauma and ambiguity, and although her works have been read in the light of these key words, which form the kernel of the Plath myth, reading The Bell Jar with an objective mind supplies a completely different picture. In relation to this, analyzing The Bell Jar through psychoanalytic and feminist literary criticism reveal the fact that Sylvia Plath not only managed to create an organic form of writing, which encapsulates her poems, short stories and journals, all of which turn back to The Bell Jar , but also built her powerful political discourse upon The Bell Jar , which was not a pot boiler, but a reflector of the sociology of Cold War America. Therefore through dividing the novel into three parts as, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, the protagonist Esther Greenwood reveals the hidden traumas of the Cold War by creating a psychic landscape, including various Virgil’s, guides, which is a form of simulacra as opposed to the one created by the dominant patriarchal ideology. At the end of her story, thanks to the play of language, Esther achieves the preservation of her true self through killing the false selves which are postulated by Cold War America. As a result, Esther’s story reveals the fact that Plath’s entire works must be read as literary works that are part of the sociology of twentieth century America and literature, not fantasies. Key Words: Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar , Cold War Ideology, Unconscious mind, Female Psyche. iv ÖZET Doktora Tezi Sylvia Plath’in Sırça Fanus Üzerinden Yeniden Okunması Esin KUMLU Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Batı Dilleri ve Edebiyatı Anabilim Dalı Amerikan Kültür ve Edebiyatı Programı Eserleri ve kimli ği adeta bir fantezi ve mite dönü ştürülen Amerikan şair ve yazar Sylvia Plath, edebiyat dünyası tarafından “deli dahi” olarak damgalanmı ştır. Dolayısı ile Sylvia Plath ismi şizofreni, delilik, travma ve belirsizilik ile özde şle şmektedir ve sadece ya şamı de ğil eserleri de “Plath miti’nin” anahtar kelimeleri olarak adlandırılabilinecek bu kavramlar üzerinden okunmaktadır. Oysa Sırça Fanus’un objektif bir lens aracılı ğı ile okunması okuyucuyu tamamiyle farklı bir tablo ile kar şıla ştırmaktadır. Psikanalitik ve feminist ele ştiri üzerinden okunana Sırça Fanus , Plath’in sadece kısa öykülerini, şiirlerini ve günlüklerini kapsayan organik yazma biçimini ve bu biçimin Sırça Fanus merkezli yapısını de ğil aynı zamanda Plath’in romanı üzerinden kurdu ğu ve böylece tüm eserlerine yaymayı ba şardı ğı güçlü politik söylemini açı ğa çıkarmaktadır. Bu ba ğlamda incelendi ğinde eserin olay örgüsü ‘Cehennem,’ ‘Araf’ ve ‘Cennet’ olarak üçe bölündü ğünde, ana karakter Esther Greenwood’un So ğuk Sava ş döneminin açı ğa çıkarılamayan tarihsel travmalarını okuyucuya yansıttı ğı görülmektedir. Esther, Cehennem ve Cennet arası geçen metaforik yolculu ğunda kendisine e şlik eden rehberleri ile zihinsel bir alan yaratarak, sosyal ya şama egemen olan patriarkal söylemin önerdi ği simulacraya kar şı farklı bir yanılsama sunmaktadır. Sonuç olarak hikâyesinin sonunda Esther dil oyunları yardımı ile öz kimli ğini korumayı ba şarmakta ve So ğuk Sava ş ideolojisinin dayattı ğı sahte kimlikleri yok etmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sylvia Plath, Sırça Fanus , So ğuk Sava ş İdeolojisi, Bilinçaltı, Kadın Zihinzel alanı. v RE-READING SYLVIA PLATH THROUGH THE BELL JAR TEZ ONAY SAYFASI………………………………………………………………ii YEMIN METNI ......................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv ÖZET .......................................................................................................................... v CONTENTS.............................................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 PART I THE MONA LISA SMILE OF SYLVIA PLATH: DESTROYING THE DISTORTED PICTURE OF REALITY 1.1. THE IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF THE MONA LISA SMILE ................ 23 1.1.2 The Problematic of Biography in Plath Studies............................................ 36 1.2. NOT THE ENDING BUT THE BEGINNING: THE CRITICAL CHAIN OF THE PLATH MYTH ...................................................................................... 41 1.3. UNDERSTANDING THE ORGANIC WRITING OF SYLVIA PLATH THROUGH THE BELL JAR ........................................................................... 52 PART II HELL: UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN SIMULACRA 2.1. ESTHER’S CONFRONTATION WITH THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT .... 64 2.1.1 The Apocalyptic American Simulacra.......................................................... 76 2.2. THE POST-MODERN DIVINE COMEDY IN THE BELL JAR..................... 78 2.2.1. The Rosenbergs and the Mirror Stage.......................................................... 83 2.3. DECONSTRUCTING BUDDY WILLARD AND THE PLASTICITY OF THE AMERICAN SIMULACRA........................................................................... 88 vi PART III PURGATORY: ENTERING THE SANCTUARY OF THE CULTURAL LOGOS 3.1. OVERCOMING SILENCE THROUGH ART: KILLING THE FALSE SELF – PRESERVING THE TRUE SELF .................................................. 114 3.1.1. Metamorphoses: The Bracing Elixir of Esther Greenwood....................... 121 3.2. ENTERING THE DOMAIN OF THE FEMALE AURA: ESTHER’S VIRGILS AT THE HEART OF THE COLD WAR IDEOLOGY................................ 126 3.2.1. Facing the Psychological Trauma .............................................................. 134 PART IV PARADISE: ESTHER’S DIAGNOSIS FOR THE AMERICAN CULTURE 4.1. WIPING OUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCAR .......................................... 164 4.1.2. Rebellion against Entrapment .................................................................... 172 4.2. THE NEW MOON, KILLING THE FALSE SELVES- REACHING THE TRUE SELF: NOT THE ENDING BUT THE BEGINNING...................... 181 4.2.1. Destroying the Taboos ............................................................................... 187 4.3. PERFORMATIVE ACT OF A CONFIRMATION OF IDENTITY.............. 191 CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 204 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................. 214 vii ABBREVIATIONS A : Sylvia Plath. Ariel : The Restored Edition . (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004). BJ : Sylvia Plath. The Bell Jar . (New York: Harper and Row, 1971). Col : Sylvia Plath. The Colossus and other poems by Sylvia Plath (New York: Vintage, 1968). CP : Sylvia Plath. The Collected Poems . Ed. Ted Hughes (New York: Harper Perennial, 2008). CW : Sylvia Plath. Crossing the Water (New York, Haper & Row, 1971). J : Sylvia Plath. The Unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath , ed. Karen Kukil (New York: Anchor Books, 2000). JP : Sylvia Plath. Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams. Short Stories, Prose, and Diary Excerpts (New York, Harper Perennial, 2000). LH : Sylvia Plath. Letters Home , ed. Aurelia Plath (New York: Harper and Row, 1975). WT : Sylvia Plath. Winter Trees (New York: Harper&Row, 1972). viii …the reality is relative, depending on what lens you look through. Each person, banging into the facts, neutral, impersonal in themselves (like the Death of someone)- interprets, alters, becomes obsessed with personal biases or attitudes, transmuting the objective reality into something quite personal…. Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals. INTRODUCTION Sylvia Plath is one of the few authors who have been posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Plath’s exceptionalism is not limited with that, when twentieth- century literary history is examined, it becomes patent that no writer has created such an enormous impact as Sylvia Plath. Furthermore, no writer or poet has been as misunderstood as in the case of Plath. In addition, no writer or poet has been labeled often as “schizophrenic” or “mad” by scholars or researchers who do not have the slightest education in psychology or psychopathology (Stevenson, 1989; Butscher 1976; Alvarez 1972; Paterno, 1971). Therefore, the works written on Plath, or the studies that have been made on Plath must be carefully read in order to purify the interpretation of her works from falsehood. In relation to that Plath’s works must be read solely as literary works that are part of the twentieth century literature, not fantasies. Therefore, the myths that have been created concerning Plath or
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