Suffering doesn’t actually have to be a prerequisite for having the right to be creating something, nor does anyone actually have a god-given directive to whittle their suffering into something to be offered up to a market.
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath – Heather Clark
Clark’s biography is not only one of the most impressive examples of the form in recent history, but a long overdue exercise in placing Sylvia Plath firmly within the poetic traditions she helped shape.
I did not read Lauren Oyler’s debut, FAKE ACCOUNTS, for fun, and I won’t say that’s what it turned into, because that would be something adjacent to a lie. I read it for the discourse.