走進劍橋大學(xué) 第29期:美國艾詩人
Sylvia Plath
美國艾詩人
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author. Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Plath, along with Anne Sexton, was credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry.
西爾維亞普拉斯，美國詩人、小說家、兒童作家與短篇故事作家。除了較為著名的詩作外，普拉斯也以筆名維多利亞盧卡斯創(chuàng)作了半自傳小說《瓶中美人》(又譯《鐘形罩》)。同安塞克斯頓一樣，普拉斯被公認(rèn)是自白詩的重要推動者之一。
She was born in Massachusetts to Aurelia Schober Plath, a first-generation American of Austrian descent, and Otto Emile Plath, an immigrant from Germany. At age eight, Plath published her first poem in the Boston Herald's children's section.
普拉斯生于美國馬薩諸塞州波士頓市，父親是德國人，母親是德裔美籍奧地利人。 她很早就展露天賦，8歲時在《波士頓先驅(qū)報》的兒童版上發(fā)表了第一首詩。
Plath has suffered from Depression for several times in her lifetime. In 1950，she attended Smith College. After her third year of college Plath made her first medically documented suicide attempt. She wrote about that in The Bell Jar.After her suicide attempt, Plath was briefly committed to a mental institution where she received electroconvulsive therapy. Plath seemed to make an acceptable recovery and graduated from Smith with honors in June 1955. In the same year, she won the prominent Glascock Prize with Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea.She obtained a Fulbright scholarship to Newnham College，Cambridge where she continued actively writing poetry, occasionally publishing her work in the student newspaper Varsity. Then she met the later English Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. After a tempestuous courtship, they were married on June 16，1956.
普拉斯一生經(jīng)歷了多次發(fā)作的嚴(yán)重抑郁癥。她1950年進入史密斯學(xué)院就讀。大三課程結(jié)束后不久,她第一次（醫(yī)學(xué)上有記錄的）嘗試自殺。后來她在小說《瓶中美人》 描述了此事。自殺未遂后，普拉斯被送進神病院并接受電休克治療。她似乎恢復(fù)得不錯，并于1955年以優(yōu)異成績從史密斯學(xué)院畢業(yè)。同年，她的詩《真實海濱的兩個 情人和一個游蕩者》獲得名望極高的Glascock Prize詩人獎。普拉斯贏得富布賴特獎學(xué)金到劍橋大學(xué)深造。她繼續(xù)寫詩，偶爾在學(xué)生報刊上發(fā)表作品。在劍橋，她認(rèn)識了后來成為英國桂冠詩人的泰德休斯經(jīng)過短暫的相處后，兩人于1956年結(jié)為連理。
Plath and Hughes spent from July 1957 to December 1959 living and working in the United States. The couple then moved to Boston. Upon learning Plath was pregnant the couple moved back to the United Kingdom. In 1960 Plath published her first collection of poetry, The Colossus. Plath's marriage to Hughes was fraught with difficulties, particularly surrounding his affair with Assia Wevill. Plath’s mental problem became more severe since then. Finally, the couple separated in late 1962.
1957至1959年，普拉斯和休斯在美國居住及工作，然后遷居到波士頓。1960年，因為普拉斯的懷孕，他們搬回英國。同年，普拉斯出版了她的第一本詩集《巨人》。普拉斯和休斯的婚姻因為休斯和同事的妻子阿西亞發(fā)生婚外情而愈加困難重重，普拉斯的精神疾病也因為休斯的婚外情而加重。終于，1962年底他們分手了。
She returned to London with their children and rented a house where W. B. Yeats once lived. However, in February, 1963, Plath took her own life. She placed her head in the oven while the gas was turned on. She was then only 30 years old.
普拉斯帶孩子們回到倫敦，住在詩人葉慈曾經(jīng)住 過的房子里。但是，1963年2月，她卻在廚房里開煤氣自盡，年僅30歲。
Plath's gravestone in Heptonstall churchyard bears the inscription “Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted.”
普拉斯被葬在西約克郡，墓碑上寫著：“即使在激烈燃燒的火焰中，我們?nèi)阅芊N下金色的蓮花。”
Two years after her death, Ariel，a collection of some her last poems was published, that was followed by Crossing the Water and Winter Trees in 1971 and in 1981 The Collected Poems was published, edited by none other than Ted Hughes.
她死后兩年,最后的詩作被整理成詩集《愛麗爾》出版,之后《渡湖》和《冬天的樹》也分別在1971和1981年出版了。這些詩集都是由休斯編輯和整理的。
In 1982 Plath became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously for The Collected Poems.
1982年，普拉斯以遺作《詩集》成為在死后獲得獲普利策獎的第一個作家。
