Novel Experience & Expression

 
“By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me.
I sizzled in his blue volts like a desert prophet.”

– Plath, “The Hanging Man” (1960)

At work in novels is “a new logic, definitely a logic, but one that grasps the innermost depths of life and death without leading us back to reason. The novelist has the eye of a prophet, not the gaze of a psychologist” (82).

– Deleuze, “Bartleby, or the Formula” (1989)

 
M 21-Sep      Plath: The Bell Jar     (through Chp. 9)           (Sarah Zimmerman)

 
                      ”Plath’s Life and Career” (Illinois)

 
 
W 23-Sep      The Bell Jar     (Chp. 10-14)           (Krystal Sardinas)

                       plus poems (optional / select) — see below.      cf. List: all poems (Stanford)

 
 
F 25-Sep      The Bell Jar     (Chp. 15-20)           (Jessica Brousseau)

                       plus (required):
                       “Ariel” (1962); “Daddy” (1962); & “Lady Lazarus” (1962)

 
                       Due: Response 2 — Prompt

 
Response 2: Bell Jar and Experience
 
500 words (min.); 10 points.
Due: F 25-Sept. Post to your blog, by class time midnight.

 
 
Given that this is not an autobiography, and yet highly “experiential,”
what can we learn from The Bell Jar about experience, from Plath’s literary expression?

 
Start by considering and/or (re-)defining “Experience”
(as a noun or verb? as a narrative or event? a combination?).

Another point of departure (contrast) is the “referential function” (153) that Abbott discusses, in that we are not evaluating this in terms of “factual, false, and fictional” (157). Rather, this novel illustrates the uncertain or undecidable status between literature and life (cf. Derrida and Miller, Cambridge 210).

 
In this view, consider experience as narrative: Plath presents multiple narratives throughout, concerning the past, present, and future within the time of the plot-events, specifically in the
memories (past) and aspirations (future) that she notes in parallel. This non-linear sequence gives us a thematic starting point, both in the overall structure and in the vivid image of the fig tree.

 
Use two to four specific descriptions from the novel as support examples for your definition, being careful not to summarize; remember to work from (and “with”) the textual instances toward an overall conclusion for your response.

 
 
Notes / suggestions:

Likewise, be careful not to generalize (e.g. “society’s view of women…”); rather, discuss the unique circumstances and ordeals that Esther undergoes or that Plath describes, as your examples.
 
You might find it easier and/or more effective to narrow your scope to a particular aspect or element (”sub-category”) of experience, using one of the contexts or circumstances from the plot (e.g. gender relations/roles, institutions, mental illness). This is a fine approach, but still try to pose an overall conclusion about experience from your specific example.
 
Finally, the references from Abbott in the prompt come from Chapters 11 and 14, which might be helpful to review (especially pp. 153-7 & pp.209-10; as well as autobio. and performance on pp. 138-43).
 
Sidenote: like the fig tree vision, another of Plath’s percepts to consider in your definition is the shadow that she mentions, beautiful or otherwise, there or not…

 
Sylvia Plath: all poems (Stanford)

 Suggested

“Ariel” (1962)
“Daddy” (1962)
“Lady Lazarus” (1962)


“The Hanging Man” (1960)
“Love Letter” (1960)
“The Moon and Yew Tree” (1961)
“Berck-Plage“(1962)
* “Death & Co.” (1962)
* “Elm” (1962)
* “Event” (1962)
“Fever 103″ (1962)
“Little Fugue” (1962)
“Poppies in July” (1962)
“Poppies in October” (1962)
* “Stings” (1962)
* “The Bee Meeting” (1962)

Tags: 1960s, Deleuze, experience, figure, New York, Plath, threshold