Re: Is it just me (and meds)

Adendum to John's eloquent statement:
Plath was clear that the Bell Jar was a work of fiction. She openly stated,
for example, that the cold mother in the book could not have been modeled
on her own dear mother who was, ansd I quote, "supportive in every way".
That's in her letters, BTW.
tina

>Hi all,
>
>Just got home and enjoyed all the posts (and drat, I knew the trivia
>question, too).
>
>But Jim, I think it's a mistake to too quickly conflate Esther and Sylvia.
>Of course the novel is certainly autobiographical. But the narrative and
>the
>character are both pretty specific in how they are drawn on the page and I
>think they should be thought of that way as well; and in that case, I think
>judging Esther the way you do Sylvia (solely on the basis of agency and
>personal
>responsibility) is simply too easy and finally both too harsh and too
>simplistic.
> In the novel, there are a number of things being discussed, including
>contemporary social taboos, professional expectations, personal
>responsibility, the
>culture's dealing with the mad and other such issues, and Esther's problem
>is
>not strictly one of self-involvement or even simple depression (clinical or
>otherwise). In fact, there's a certain amount of Holden in Esther and I
>think
>she demands our concern and even our respect, in places, even as she is
>swallowed up by glass.
>
>Also, I think it is important to hear just how this novel, written so long
>ago now, still resonates powerfully among a young female audience, even in
>this
>allegedly cynical generation Z age. I taught it again only a year and half
>ago and it certainly prompted some very useful and very worthwhile
>discussion
>among a number of interested young women (and men) between the ages of 17
>and
>21, many of whom who became very thorough and very passionate and very
>creative
>in their readings and in their use of the work. I don't think it can be
>too
>casually dismissed, even if you are willing to criticize the author's life
>as
>simply self-indulgent (which I also think is too simplistic, but for other
>separate reasons that needn't be discussed here).
>
>I think it is, finally, still a powerful book.
>
>Also, on the subject of writers and anti-depressants, etc.... it is a road
>many of us have traveled I am sure. In my earlier days, sometime after
>college, I saw a professional for a disorder I had long had and which I
>don't feel
>the need to discuss here. I was prescribed, almost automatically, first
>Anafranil and then Prozac, with Xanax on the side (for sudden attacks). As
>the level
>of Anafranil (and later Prozac) in my system reached functioning levels,
>the
>symptoms of my disorder certainly subsided; but as anyone who has been on
>these suckers will tell you, so did my ability to feel much of anything or
>care
>very deeply about anything. I gradually came to feel as if I was walking
>around
>encased in bubble-wrap. It sucked. And I certainly couldn't write
>anything
>like poetry (which I had been doing for some time).
>
>So, despite knowing that the symptoms would return, I weaned myself off all
>of these things. And it's been nearly ten years now and I have learned to
>live
>with what I do and made some appropriate and necessary arrangements and
>adjustments, but I have not wrapped myself up in the gauze of the pills and
>although there are certainly times when I care way too much, it's better
>than not
>being able to care at all.
>
>Just a thought from a member of the army of the once medicated here in the
>States.
>
>--John
>
>PS: tina -- nice rant, and I'll the other JD you said hi. :)
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Tue Jun 24 21:59:26 2003