Post by ladylinda on Oct 4, 2015 17:22:55 GMT -5
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3259321/Artist-daughter-Sylvia-Plath-reveals-agony-seeing-father-Ted-Hughes-punished-outsiders-wife-s-suicide-1963.html
Sunday, Oct 4th 2015 10PM 12°C 1AM 13°C 5-Day Forecast
'It's a horrible kind of theft': Artist daughter of Sylvia Plath reveals agony of seeing her father Ted Hughes punished by 'outsiders' for his wife's suicide in 1963
• Frieda Hughes, 55, has given her first TV interview with the BBC
• Says she is 'appalled' that her father was blamed for Plath's death
• Sylvia Plath killed herself in 1963, while her children slept in another room
By MARTHA CLIFF FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:59, 4 October 2015 | UPDATED: 14:37, 4 October 2015
Frieda Hughes, the daughter of Sylvia Plath, has broken her 53-year silence to speak about the legacy of her mother's suicide in her first television interview.
In the interview with the BBC, the artist whose father Ted Hughes had left his wife for another woman when she killed herself has expressed with people who she claims have used her mother's death to help their cause.
The poet and painter, 55, accused the loyalty of Plath's fierce fans towards her mother that saw Frieda's father blamed for her death in 1963 as 'an abuse' in the documentary.
Frieda Hughes, daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, has given her first TV interview to the BBC where she discusses her contempt for feminists who used her mother's suicide to fit a purpose
Frieda was just two when her mother left her and her younger brother Nicholas upstairs as she ended her life by placing her head in the their oven on February 11, 1963, at their flat on Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill.
The poet, famous for her novel The Bell Jar and such powerful poems as Daddy, Morning Song, Words and Lady Lazarus, had separated from her husband after discovering his affair with Assia Wevill.
The tragic events of that day have resounded for decades, with debate amongst feminists and academics raging about how Hughes' betrayal influenced Plath's behaviour, whether he was in fact to blame for her death and the questions about whether when he edited volumes of her work, he was censoring her.
Now the couple's daughter has told the BBC it was wrong for 'outsiders' to make assumptions about the families private lives, the Telegraph reports.
She told producers: 'I was appalled that something that happened in 1963 could be carried forward.
Sylvia Plath killed gased herself to death aged 30 after discovering Ted's affair with Assia Wevill. Pictured: Sylvia with Frieda and son Nicholas, who also committed suicide later in life
Frieda says that it was wrong for feminist fans of her mothers to launch a barrage of hate on her father including removing his name from her mother's head stone. Pictured: Ted (left) and Sylvia (right)
'What an easy way out for somebody to think, yes, we're right, we have got the real story, we know what really happened, and we are going to punish this complete stranger (referring to Ted) for something we weren't around to witness, we know nothing about, but we're the ones with the answer.
The paper reported that she said: 'For outsiders - because that's what they are, outsiders - to make judgements that affect somebody in their life, for all of their life, is a sort of horrible form of theft. It's an abuse.'
Hughes, has been described as being unfairly regarded as 'the bluebeard of English literature' after not only Plath's death but the subsequent suicide of his new partner Assia Wevill in 1969, who also killed her daughter.
It even led to Plath's gravestone being vandalised in the 1970s as feminists who blamed Hughes' philandering for her demise, chipped off the poet's surname, and it remains a feminist literary shrine today.
The interview will be broadcast in a special programme for BBC Two Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death later in October. Pictured: Sylvia as a young woman
Sylvia Plath reads her poem 'Daddy' that was written in 1962
Tragedy hit the family once more when in 2009 Frieda's brother Nicholas Hughes, 47, killed himself at home in Alaska where he lived alone. It followed years in which he is said to have battled depression.
In the programme Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death, the BBC are hoping to uncover the many unanswered questions surrounding the late poet's life.
The BBC said: 'By talking to those who bore witness to his life and work, the programme will seek to answer some of the questions that have for the past five decades haunted his legacy and his reputation.'
The documentary hopes to 'illuminate one of the 20th century’s most controversial and elusive cultural figures and focus on how his life story shaped his vision as a poet.
The broadcaster said his work cast a spell over readers from the publication of his first volume in 1957, adding: 'Hughes' stature as a poet of huge significance is incontrovertible, yet so often during his lifetime attention was focused on the turbulent events in his personal life.
'Love and work collided with tragic consequences during his marriage to Sylvia Plath and he was forced to weather a storm of speculation over her suicide and that of his lover Assia Wevill.'
Hughes' poetry 'took on an increasingly personal tone, culminating in the searing power of Birthday Letters, his final volume and only account of his relationship with Plath.'
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death will be broadcast on BBC Two on October 10
Feminists abused my mother's suicide, says Sylvia Plath's poet daughter - Telegraph
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3259321/Artist-daughter-Sylvia-Plath-reveals-agony-seeing-father-Ted-Hughes-punished-outsiders-wife-s-suicide-1963.html#ixzz3ndkSlY00
Sunday, Oct 4th 2015 10PM 12°C 1AM 13°C 5-Day Forecast
'It's a horrible kind of theft': Artist daughter of Sylvia Plath reveals agony of seeing her father Ted Hughes punished by 'outsiders' for his wife's suicide in 1963
• Frieda Hughes, 55, has given her first TV interview with the BBC
• Says she is 'appalled' that her father was blamed for Plath's death
• Sylvia Plath killed herself in 1963, while her children slept in another room
By MARTHA CLIFF FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:59, 4 October 2015 | UPDATED: 14:37, 4 October 2015
Frieda Hughes, the daughter of Sylvia Plath, has broken her 53-year silence to speak about the legacy of her mother's suicide in her first television interview.
In the interview with the BBC, the artist whose father Ted Hughes had left his wife for another woman when she killed herself has expressed with people who she claims have used her mother's death to help their cause.
The poet and painter, 55, accused the loyalty of Plath's fierce fans towards her mother that saw Frieda's father blamed for her death in 1963 as 'an abuse' in the documentary.
Frieda Hughes, daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, has given her first TV interview to the BBC where she discusses her contempt for feminists who used her mother's suicide to fit a purpose
Frieda was just two when her mother left her and her younger brother Nicholas upstairs as she ended her life by placing her head in the their oven on February 11, 1963, at their flat on Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill.
The poet, famous for her novel The Bell Jar and such powerful poems as Daddy, Morning Song, Words and Lady Lazarus, had separated from her husband after discovering his affair with Assia Wevill.
The tragic events of that day have resounded for decades, with debate amongst feminists and academics raging about how Hughes' betrayal influenced Plath's behaviour, whether he was in fact to blame for her death and the questions about whether when he edited volumes of her work, he was censoring her.
Now the couple's daughter has told the BBC it was wrong for 'outsiders' to make assumptions about the families private lives, the Telegraph reports.
She told producers: 'I was appalled that something that happened in 1963 could be carried forward.
Sylvia Plath killed gased herself to death aged 30 after discovering Ted's affair with Assia Wevill. Pictured: Sylvia with Frieda and son Nicholas, who also committed suicide later in life
Frieda says that it was wrong for feminist fans of her mothers to launch a barrage of hate on her father including removing his name from her mother's head stone. Pictured: Ted (left) and Sylvia (right)
'What an easy way out for somebody to think, yes, we're right, we have got the real story, we know what really happened, and we are going to punish this complete stranger (referring to Ted) for something we weren't around to witness, we know nothing about, but we're the ones with the answer.
The paper reported that she said: 'For outsiders - because that's what they are, outsiders - to make judgements that affect somebody in their life, for all of their life, is a sort of horrible form of theft. It's an abuse.'
Hughes, has been described as being unfairly regarded as 'the bluebeard of English literature' after not only Plath's death but the subsequent suicide of his new partner Assia Wevill in 1969, who also killed her daughter.
It even led to Plath's gravestone being vandalised in the 1970s as feminists who blamed Hughes' philandering for her demise, chipped off the poet's surname, and it remains a feminist literary shrine today.
The interview will be broadcast in a special programme for BBC Two Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death later in October. Pictured: Sylvia as a young woman
Sylvia Plath reads her poem 'Daddy' that was written in 1962
Tragedy hit the family once more when in 2009 Frieda's brother Nicholas Hughes, 47, killed himself at home in Alaska where he lived alone. It followed years in which he is said to have battled depression.
In the programme Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death, the BBC are hoping to uncover the many unanswered questions surrounding the late poet's life.
The BBC said: 'By talking to those who bore witness to his life and work, the programme will seek to answer some of the questions that have for the past five decades haunted his legacy and his reputation.'
The documentary hopes to 'illuminate one of the 20th century’s most controversial and elusive cultural figures and focus on how his life story shaped his vision as a poet.
The broadcaster said his work cast a spell over readers from the publication of his first volume in 1957, adding: 'Hughes' stature as a poet of huge significance is incontrovertible, yet so often during his lifetime attention was focused on the turbulent events in his personal life.
'Love and work collided with tragic consequences during his marriage to Sylvia Plath and he was forced to weather a storm of speculation over her suicide and that of his lover Assia Wevill.'
Hughes' poetry 'took on an increasingly personal tone, culminating in the searing power of Birthday Letters, his final volume and only account of his relationship with Plath.'
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death will be broadcast on BBC Two on October 10
Feminists abused my mother's suicide, says Sylvia Plath's poet daughter - Telegraph
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3259321/Artist-daughter-Sylvia-Plath-reveals-agony-seeing-father-Ted-Hughes-punished-outsiders-wife-s-suicide-1963.html#ixzz3ndkSlY00