Book contents
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations and Textual Note
- Key Archives
- Introduction
- Part I Literary Contexts
- Part II Literary Technique and Influence
- Part III Cultural Contexts
- Part IV Sexual and Gender Contexts
- Part V Political and Religious Contexts
- Chapter 19 The Bell Jar, the Rosenbergs and the Problem of the Enemy Within
- Chapter 20 Religious Contexts for Plath’s Work
- Chapter 21 Plath and Nature
- Chapter 22 Plath and War
- Part VI Biographical Contexts
- Part VII Plath and Place
- Part VIII The Creative Afterlife
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 19 - The Bell Jar, the Rosenbergs and the Problem of the Enemy Within
from Part V - Political and Religious Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2019
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations and Textual Note
- Key Archives
- Introduction
- Part I Literary Contexts
- Part II Literary Technique and Influence
- Part III Cultural Contexts
- Part IV Sexual and Gender Contexts
- Part V Political and Religious Contexts
- Chapter 19 The Bell Jar, the Rosenbergs and the Problem of the Enemy Within
- Chapter 20 Religious Contexts for Plath’s Work
- Chapter 21 Plath and Nature
- Chapter 22 Plath and War
- Part VI Biographical Contexts
- Part VII Plath and Place
- Part VIII The Creative Afterlife
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Robin Peel explains the resonance of the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in The Bell Jar. As the event fades into history, its extraordinary impact on 1950s American psychology can easily be forgotten. The electrocution of the Rosenbergs for espionage is important to Plath’s novel because of the resonance of their Jewishness, insider/outsider status and apparent vindication of Cold War paranoia. In addition, Peel reads the event from a retrospective and transatlantic perspective. The thirty year old adult woman writing in the persona of senior student mirrors the simultaneous political engagement and distancing that has troubled so many readers.
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- Sylvia Plath in Context , pp. 202 - 211Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019