Syliva Plath’s novel The Bell Jar was the first dangerous book that I ever read. This was the book that taught me that I should guard myself against literature, because novels will speak to me directly in the hours before I go to sleep, they will use my own voice, and they may never directly address the things that they are about.
I suppose I’ll never read another book in the same way.
This year is the 40th year since the novel’s publication, which has precipitated the writing of this very nice article about Plath and The Bell Jar and things.
