Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar (English) - KarazwLaimoon

Book Club: Wednesday 26 November 2014 (7 pm)

Book: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Faciliator: Ghada Seifeddine

Download Some Notes by Ghada: Click Here

Where to get the Book:
The book is available at Librairie Antoine (All branches).

If you want to have an electronic version (PDF), contact here.

Please go to this page to register for the session (complimentary):  Click Here.
Bring your friends. You do not have to be an AUB Alumnus.

About the Author, Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, was and still remains a phenomenal 20th century American poet, novelist (The Bell Jar is what we will be reading) and short story writer. She grew up as a gifted student who earned her title when it came to writing prizes, publications and scholarship. She married poet Ted Hughes and raised a family of two children. Unfortunately, in a deep corner of her life, lay bipolar disease, aggressively forcing her to surrender and commit suicide at the age of thirty. Her writing and legacy remain, keeping us at edge whenever we read her verses. In fact, she was the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize after her death. Her books bustle with vivid emotion, imagery and characters that get us hooked from page one. Her themes tackle political, social and personal layers, exposing Sylvia’s mind and heart. Sylvia Plath drew a human painting of the life around and within her, showing the reality of life as she/we know it to be.

Interesting Links about Sylvia Plath:
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About The Bell Jar: a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, in a time when an oppressive atmosphere towards woman roamed the American streets, covering its women with dark dead clothes. This novel depicts American reality in the post-war period. The novel weaves the story of Esther, a young and bright woman writer who lives amongst the emotional, social and physical limitations of her setting. She battles her way to surpass what society forcefully expects from her as an American woman, which comes with a price tag, surely. She is trapped in her bell jar, and attempts to run away from it, at the expense of her sanity. This is a novel about ambition and fulfillment, about the desire to trespass life as more than just an endless trap one cannot get out from. Sylvia Plath’s play on words and meaning make us understand her character, her breakdown and healing, within and outside a bell jar. The search for self-identity, a constant that is searched for, is at the heart of the story. For those who believe there is more to life than the four walls that surround them, this novel is for you.

Interesting Links about The Bell Jar:
Click Here
Click Here (Seeing Through the Bell Jar)
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About the Facilitator, Ghada Seifeddine:
a graduate student studying English language at the American University of Beirut. She is also an editor at Rusted Radishes Journal, a short story writer and poet. She believes in the power of her inner child that is bursting with creativity and laughter. She loses that part of her at times, so if you ever find that inner child of hers running around far and away, kindly send directions. Her hobbies include eating with no guilt, sipping morning coffees to regain social skills and quoting angry feminist sayings. The most frequent words she utters are not words at all; they are more of memories on papers that help her understand the way she’s growing about in the cosmos. To her, writing is indeed the yoga of life!