Bonjour Tristesse
Exceptionally observant young women judge the adult lives presented to them with little patience for convention.
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The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath’s darkly funny 1963 novel about a gifted young woman looking skeptically at the adult future she is expected to want.
- 1963
About Sylvia Plath
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeA talented college student spends a summer working at a New York fashion magazine while the futures offered to her—career, marriage, conventional femininity—feel increasingly impossible to inhabit.
What's inside
A young woman’s successful summer in New York gives way to a deep psychological crisis as she struggles to imagine an adult life she can accept.
Why we recommend it
Another young woman resisting the life on offer
Its observant heroine also distrusts conventional adulthood, though Plath takes that conflict into a much darker psychological place.
What this book explores
Book editions
- Paperback
- Faber & Faber
- 9780571081783
Reader reviews
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Bell Jar, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1The Bell Jar
Official recordFaber & FaberUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
2Sylvia Plath collection, MRBC-MS-00045
ArchiveMortimer Rare Book Collection, Smith College Special CollectionsUsed forArchival evidence used to document the historical record connected to The Bell Jar.
3The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962
MemoirAnchor Books, 2000Used forFirst-person evidence and historical context used in preparing the The Bell Jar page.
4Sylvia Plath
WebsiteAcademy of American Poets, poets.orgUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Bell Jar page.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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