“Questions without answer”: Clairvoyance and Identity Crisis in Sylvia Plath’s Work

Abstract

In studies about Sylvia Plath’s work, the poet’s contact with esoteric and magical practices has been taken as a mere biographical fact; however, the implications derived from these practices on Plath’s thematic and formal choices have been ignored and, instead, her relationship with esotericism has been mobilized as one of the many characteristics of this author’s controversial and mystified biography. This article proposes a critical view of the author’s approach to three particular practices related to clairvoyance: Tarot, the Ouija board, and necromancy. Through this analysis, this text offers a focused examination of the author’s poetic, epistolary, and personal texts that manifest a link between these topics as well as Plath’s preoccupation with identities in crisis. Likewise, this article drafts a map of the author’s exploration of these esoteric concepts, tools and practices in order to address their reach and relevance in Plath’s poetic imagery. In terms of the theoretical resources used for this examination, the notion of dramatic monologue poem, proposed by Susan Bassnett, is implemented here to explore Plath’s poetry beyond its biographical-confessional dimension. An overarching vision of Plath’s multiple ways of using different genres and forms is, likewise, sought to broaden the panorama of the inner connections present throughout her literary corpus.