Release date: Oct. 31, 2003
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Author to Speak on Plath-Hughes Marriage

The marriage of American poet Sylvia Plath and British poet Ted Hughes, and her subsequent suicide at age 30, has been the source of a seemingly endless supply of books and films, including the newly released "Sylvia" starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Their ill-fated marriage has been speculated on for years, and materials in Emory University's special collections shed light on their careers and lives. A newly released book by scholar Diane Middlebrook has benefited from materials in that archive.

In 1997, Emory acquired the personal papers of British poet laureate Ted Hughes. Contained in the 2.5 tons of materials were letters, scrapbooks, photographs and hundreds of drafts of poems from throughout much of his career and throughout his marriage to Plath. Then in December of 1998, Emory acquired a cache of the manuscripts from his first three major collections of poems and the personal correspondence from 1955-1988 between Hughes, who passed away in the fall of 1998, and his longtime friend Lucas Myers. In May of this year, Emory's special collections acquired Hughes' personal library, including a much annotated copy of Shakespeare's complete works. The materials in Emory's Ted Hughes archive shed light on his career and marriage to Plath that has given scholars a new understanding of both poets' lives and careers.

Middlebrook is one such scholar. Middlebrook, professor of English emerita at Stanford University, spent several weeks in the past five years poring through Hughes' correspondence. Her resulting book, "Her Husband: Hughes and Plath --A Marriage," has just been released to widespread acclaim. She will talk about her book and what she learned about the literary pair in a lecture at Emory at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the Jones Room of Woodruff Library, 540 Asbury Circle. A book signing and reception will follow Middlebrook's talk. For more information, call 404-727-7620.

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