October 07, 2007
ted's letters
[Ted Hughes had started an affair with Assia Wevill around the time of his separation from Sylvia Plath in late summer, 1962. David Wevill, a Canadian poet, was her husband] Assia, I tried to ring you this morning. I wanted to see you. Nothing we said the other day was right.If you & David are going to part, it must be easier for both of you now, than after a month more of general misery.
As things are, it is bad for all of us. If you come to me, David suffers.
If you go to him, you suffer, and does he stop suffering? I don't see how it can make him happy again, just to hand yourself over to him as a prisoner or a body, unless he's not at all concerned how you are feeling, and quite happy to have you even against your will.
more from the Telegraph here.
Posted by Morgan Meis at 07:53 AM | Permalink
Comments
It's misinformation to assume that the affair started at the time of the separation, when it could be argued that the affair started well before the separation.
Posted by: Elizabeth | Sep 27, 2008 4:39:49 PM
But it's *humanly understandable* misinformation (if misinformation it is; no proof, that I know of, either way); there's nothing extraordinary, or meaningful to *outsiders*, about an infidelity. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath make their names as poets and suddenly their private life/lives become fair game?
It'll be interesting to see if Karen Green starts taking the blame, in some intense little circles, for DFW's suicide; DFW had a mitigating history of psychic disturbance, sure, but so did Sylvia Plath.
If people must hold real lives up as ideological evidence, let them hold *themselves* up: at least they'd know then, for certain, what they were talking about.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Sep 27, 2008 5:18:43 PM
Post a comment