The Bell Jar

A Novel

No cover

Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar (Paperback, 1999, Viking Penguin)

Paperback, 272 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 1999 by Viking Penguin.

ISBN:
978-0-571-20033-7
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OCLC Number:
924766941

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5 stars (2 reviews)

The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel. Renowned for its intensity and outstandingly vivid prose, it broke existing boudaries between fiction and reality and helped to make Plath an enduring feminist icon. It was published under a pseudonym a few weeks before the author's suicide. --back cover

11 editions

"Darkly Funny" is apt

4 stars

Content warning Mentions of depression and racism

A must of 20th century us literature

5 stars

This is prose writing at it's absolute best, and however distressing the content of the book may be , you can't fail to be impressed by the masterful use of English by this unbelievably gifted young woman. I went on to read Sylvia's journal, and at that point it became obvious that you can substitute the name Esther for Sylvia - they are one and the same. I've felt compelled to read much of the other prose and poetry she wrote in her tragically short life and can totally understand why she's regarded as one of the greatest writers of twentieth century literature.

Subjects

  • Modern fiction