Sylvia Plath | Typed letter signed, to Edith and William Hughes, "we'll be writing like fury", [22 July 1957]

Sylvia Plath

Typed letter signed, to Edith and William Hughes ("Dear Ted's mother & dad...")

writing in idyllic terms of their life together in a cottage on Cape Cod ("...The sea air here, the privacy in the pine grove, the peace, the good food & shiny little cabin are working wonders on both of us..."), their ambition to "write like fury" over the summer, and her confidence in Hughes's future ("...Ted's book, I am sure, will be a best-seller here for poetry books!..."), 1 page, 8vo (174 x 138mm), blue paper [Eastham, MA,] "Monday morning" [c.22 July 1957]

Hughes and Plath reached their remote cabin on Cape Cod on 13 July, and remained until late August. It was a productive period for Hughes, who began writing the poems that would become Lupercal, but Plath struggled to begin writing again after nine months given over to academic study. However, she worked on four stories, one of which ('The Trouble-Making Mother') would become the basis of The Bell Jar. Her fine poem 'Mussel Hunter at Rock Harbor' (1958) was also inspired by these weeks on the Cape.

LITERATURE

The Letters of Sylvia Plath: Volume Two, p.165