Tag Archives: writers

Sylvia Plath's son kills self

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Very sad–the son of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath has killed himself.  He hanged himself.

Their family history is quite tragic, and they have a long history with depression.  Plath gassed herself while her children slept in another room.  Feminist groups blamed her husband Ted because he had left her for another woman, a woman who ended up gassing herself and her own daughter.

Really sad.

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Flannery O'Connor biography

Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor

Some of you writers may be interested in Brad Gooch’s biography of Flannery O’Connor.  I saw this in the Economist.  Writers these days often do research before writing, and many feel that they can’t write without research.  Ms. O’Connor had the opposite philosophy:

One of the strengths of Brad Gooch’s biography is its elegant pooh-poohing of her claim that “experience is the greatest deterrent to fiction” and that “any story in which I reveal myself in completely will be a bad story.”

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Endowments: A Possible Solution to the Media Problem

I’m excited.  A NY Times Op-Ed just proposed a solution for the media problem that I’ve been blogging about.  (see here, for example).

I don’t remember when I said it, but I did: most literary writers, in the future, will most likely be employed by foundations rather than private companies.  The money just isn’t there.  It’s not that big of a deal–most literary writers are and will continue to be broke anyway–but it speaks against the idea that writers will be independent.

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Not getting it

Alexandra Penney

Alexandra Penney

Just read this CNN story about Alexandra Penney, a best selling sex author who was one of Bernie Madoff’s victims.  It’s pretty amazing that she invested everything with him.  I’m amazed that people still don’t diversify their holdings, even after Enron and Wordcomm.   Anyway, she was a bestselling author and former editor of Self, and she made tons of money during the 80′s.  She’s not penniless, but most of it is now gone.

The interesting part of this story is related to writing and blogging.  Apparently, soon after learning that she had been fleeced by Madoff, Penney blogged about her experiences on the Daily Beast, writing a series of articles called The Bag Lady Papers.   She wrote:

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