[Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf, Syvia Plath, and a decommissioned lighthouse (Belle Tout)

[Laurie Reiche]

Hello All,
	Sandra Gilbert wrote a wonderful, short(ish) essay called, "On the Beach With Sylvia Plath" (in the book the Unraveling Archive - essays on Sylvia Plath, edited by Anita Helle) that looks at another Plathian landscape: Berck-Plage. This essay may perhaps give some insight into Plath's writerly retreat/"vacationing" choices.  If we think about Gilbert's conclusion that she "regard[s] Plath  herself as our our most highly sensitized and representative poet not, as if often asserted, of suicidal extremism but rather of later-twentieth-century mourning (italics mine) " ---then we might see what Plath saw and/or was drawn to in a different light. 
	Cheers,
	Laurie

On Apr 13, 2017, at 10:20 AM, <kllevenback at att.net> wrote:

> A dear friend of mine living in Australia just wrote to ask the following; he also included the attached photo.
>  
> Can anyone help?
>  
> “I have a literary favour to ask. On a clifftop in Sussex stands a decommissioned lighthouse that rejoices under the name of Belle Tout (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Tout_lighthouse). My question is this. Is it true that Sylvia Plath stayed there while writing some of the poems in her posthumously published collection Crossing the water? There is no particular reason you should know, but with your literary connections I thought perhaps you might know where to look. There is a solitary passing reference to it on-line, but since it's the only one, I must treat it with caution.
>  
> My curiosity was aroused by a possible synchronicity. Of all the writerly retreats that Plath could possibly have chosen, why choose the only one that looks out on the world's premier suicide spot, Beachy Head? The attached photo shows the view that Plath would have had from her window. Given the acres of print that have been written about her, you would think that other writers would have spotted the premonitory connection. But apparently not.
>  
> Surely I am not the first? Any guidance, or indeed incisive thoughts, would be welcome.”
>  
> With thanks--
> Karen Levenback
> <Beachy Head_1.jpg>_______________________________________________
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Laurie Reiche
lauriereiche at gmail.com
www.laurie-reiche.squarespace.com

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