Monday, December 10, 2018

Great Gatsby Marginalia by Sylvia Plath

https://theconversation.com/what-we-can-learn-from-reading-sylvia-plaths-copy-of-the-great-gatsby-107660

Jeanne Britton has written an interesting article (link above) about marginalia in a copy of one of the great novels of the twentieth century and of the great twentieth century poet who left her writing and marks in the margins and elsewhere throughout that book. 

The novel is The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the poet whose bookplate identifies her as a previous owner/reader of the book is Sylvia Plath. She spared few pages of underlining, margin notes, and other markings and Ms. Britton mines the marginalia to illuminate influence on Plath's future writing and context for a tragic life unfolding and cut short by suicide at age 30.

Ms. Britton is Curator, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of South Carolina. Sylvia Plath's copy of the Great Gatsby is in their collection.


No comments:

Post a Comment