Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz by Gail Crowther

Author:Gail Crowther
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2021-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX Writing

Arrogant, I think I have written the lines that qualify me to be The Poetess of America…

—Sylvia Plath1

I have to be great, that’s the entire problem—I want to leave the impact of my personality carved in marble.

—Anne Sexton2

If Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton had never known each other, never read each other’s work, literature today would be a very different place. Theirs was a two-way exchange of ideas, influences, and writing styles. When they first met, Sexton was in the more secure position of being a fairly well-known, rising star of poetry. She was lauded by Robert Lowell, and her original, slangy, open poems burst onto the literary scene, causing equal parts shock and delight. Plath, too, was well published, but a more reserved poet at that time, a bit more uptight, dense, with only occasional flashes of what was to come later. When Plath first read Sexton, she realized the strength of her work lay in the ease of expression, her honesty, and her ability to get straight to the point. Not only that, she envied Sexton’s subject matter: madness, motherhood, sex, parents, therapy, death, suicide. These topics were a breakthrough, not just for poetry in general but for women operating in a male-dominated discipline. To say that Plath and Sexton were in a minority is an understatement, and given that they were both privileged white women really highlights just how bad things were. If they struggled, imagine what it was like for those without that social privilege. Although today there have been improvements, it is still not enough. Transparency about the gendered nature of the literary world shows that misogyny and racism still both play a strong part not only in who gets published but also who gets reviewed and what sort of advances are offered. Those suffering the worst deal are Black, Latino, Asian, and all ethnic minority women writers, while other social characteristics, such as class and age, intersect to create a playing field so unlevel, it is frightening to see how certain groups are just simply pushed off the edge.

The historical moment in which Plath and Sexton were writing, though, is crucial to understanding their work, not only in terms of how radical they were for the time but how they managed this on a personal and professional level. Plath never got to experience second-wave feminism. Sexton did but felt that, despite feeling held back by her gender, she could not fully embrace the movement. What she did realize, though, was the part she played in helping to bring it about. In a 1974 interview with writer Elaine Showalter, Sexton and Maxine Kumin reflected on how they viewed their lives prior to second-wave feminism:

SEXTON: You see, when we began, there was no women’s movement. We were it.

KUMIN: And we didn’t know it.

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