Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Part 6)

Image by Freepik

This is the 6th part of the story. The previous parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Ted Hughes and his sister Olwyn Hughes imagined at first that a biography telling their side of the story would be helpful to them in fighting against the ever increasing army of Plath fans, and recuperating Ted’s reputation. Although they didn’t expect that Ted’s reputation could be restored completely, they hoped that such a book would push the public opinion towards the “right” track.

When Anne Stevenson, a well established literary figure, contacted them about accessing the Plath material in order to write a biography about her, Olwyn Hughes met and interviewed Anne, and was pleasantly surprised that Anne was not very sympathetic towards Plath. Anne was about Plath’s age, and had similar life experiences as Plath, like graduating from a good college, moving from America to England, starting a family with a husband and two children, trying hard to publish her poems and novels. Anne felt that she understood Plath and could tell a story much better than others.

Women are the harshest critics of themselves and other women. Whenever something happens, we tend to blame ourselves or blame other women. This unfortunate misunderstanding of life and misread of fortune have created numerous problems for us. But as we all know that whenever emotions or customs or families are involved, we don’t stop practicing something just because it is causing problems. If our views don’t change, we would continue on the wrong path, often doubling down on a failing project or a relationship.

Anyway, I digressed. Coming back to Anne, who had been struggling with self doubt and negativity, I have to say Anne did share many traits with Plath, like trying to be both traditional and artistic, feeling guilty being one way or the other, wanting the comfort provided by the social structure while sensing the suffocating effect of it on her writing. Anne actually left her family twice to become a “real artist” in an artist colony, just to be sane and healthy and productive. Olwyn supported Anne completely, knowing that she was going to write a negative book about Plath. Better still, Olwyn helped Anne negotiate a new writing contract with her publishing company and got a big advance payment on the book yet to be written, with a caveat that Olwyn and Ted had to approve of the content before publication. Since Anne and Olwyn talked so well together and agreed with each other on all aspects, they didn’t feel that they would ever come to any disagreement at all. So do all the people who like each other in the beginning of the relationship–they just can’t foresee any future problems.

And Anne happily started her work and her writing. And as she continued her work, she became more sympathetic towards Plath. Plath’s experiences were so much like her own; Plath’s pain mirrored her own pain. Anne was a good girl, who had planned to be negative, to exercise sanctions, to put blame on Plath for her own peril, but the more she investigated, the more she felt her love for Plath. Her writing veered off from the original plan into the realm of appreciation.

Olwyn would not allow it. A big dispute erupted, which was so bad that Anne almost decided to give up on the contract at one point. However she couldn’t afford to give back the advancement the publishing house had already paid her. She had to finish the project. Eventually a senior editor from the publishing house had to come to negotiate with Olwyn and a final content of the book was agreed upon by both sides after exhausting talks.

Anne’s book “Bitter Fame” was published in 1989 and it immediately caused a storm that was more serious than Ted and Olwyn had ever encountered before. Anne added a foreword to the book, explaining that she had to respect the wishes of the relatives of Plath. And of course Plath’s fans thought the relatives Anne mentioned were the persons who were responsible for Plath’s tragedy in the first place, who were instrumental in throwing away Plath’s diary to make themselves look good, who were continuing their unspeakable act to damage Plath’s legacy.

Plath’s fans were enraged and the floodgate of criticisms came in so strong that Ted almost “drowned” in the raging storm. The book was considered to be manufactured by Ted And Olwyn to puff up themselves at Plath’s expense. The fact that Anne, such a reputable figure, could become their spokeswoman was supposed to add value and credibility to the book, but it only made people more suspicious: how much money were advanced to Anne, how many strings Ted and Olwyn must have pulled to make this happen, how much conspiracy was involved, who else was behind this?

Since Plath had by the time been dead for more than twenty years, the public still had interest but it was a manageable interest–its volume was predictable and its vehemence could be balanced by Ted’s well prepared defense. However the book just blew away the relative tranquility. Plath’s fans poured over every line of the book, looking for explicit spite, implicit malice, inconsistency, misunderstanding, and deliberate misinformation. Suddenly everybody who had been closely or remotely related with Plath was contacted for verification of one fact or another by enthusiastic writers and amateur sleuths and female fans who had a lot of time in their hands, such as idle college students or retirees. Suddenly everybody who ever met Plath wanted to give a talk, publish an article, write a book to give his or her opinions, or tell his or her side of the story.

It was a tsunami Ted had not expected. His effort in putting out the fire had fanned the flame instead. The female fans of Plath had more power than he had ever given them credit for, more power than those fans had ever given themselves credit for.

(To Be Continued Here)