In the New York Times Book Review, Joyce Carol Oates described Plath as “one of the most celebrated and controversial of postwar poets writing in English.” Intensely autobiographical, Plath’s poems explore her own mental anguish, her troubled marriage to fellow poet Ted Hughes, her unresolved conflicts with her parents, and her own vision of herself. In the ensuing years her work attracted the attention of a multitude of readers, who saw in her singular verse an attempt to catalogue despair, violent emotion, and obsession with death. By the time she took her life at the age of 30, Plath already had a following in the literary community. * Yes, I kept thinking vaguely of the Big Lebowski as I read this.Sylvia Plath was one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the 20th century. This (this review) captures some of the energy I felt closing this book, but doesn't even come close to demanding from me what this book and the Man deserve. Oh, and you better make damn sure this writer is hypergraphic. IT IS that good.ĭemons is what you get when you mix a writer who is a philosopher on par with the thinking greats + a writer who is a psychologist on par with the behavioral greats + a writer who is a preacher on par with the moral greats. I'm taking both or trade my food of foot or future for the second book. Gah!ĭesert Island book? Forced to pick? To HELL with you.

There was probably more to love (for me) in Brothers Karamazov, but it didn't flow as easily as Demons, but still gah, still I think I love Demons more. Each of Dostoyevsky's big novels is a piece that is both infinitely frustrating and beautifully perfect at the same time. Greatness is not a bolus of achievement or a gout of acclaim. How could one grade Beethoven's great symphonies? Is Demons/Devils/the Possessed better than, , ? Tell me, do you prefer Matthew, Mark, Luke or John?ĭostoyevsky is writing the gospels man *. How the Hell do I adequately review this? Once someone hits a certain genius with writing (or other forms of art), it is impossible to really grade their art. I loved the Devil(s) out of the Possessed “Full freedom will come only when it makes no difference whether to live or not to live.

Demons dostoevsky review