In Search of the Symbolic Truth about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath in Kate Moses’s Wintering and Susan Schaeffer’s Poison
In Search of the Symbolic Truth about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath in Kate Moses’s Wintering and Susan Schaeffer’s Poison

Summary/Abstract: Attaining the status of a recognized genre of fiction viapostmodernism with its immanent polyphony and deconstructivistpossibilities, biofiction in the last two decades of the 20th century eventuallybecame a neat blend of biographical fact and literary fiction with a hybridaesthetic which opened new perspectives for both enquiries into andinterpretations of this kind of fiction in the 21st century. While biographies arestill studied and used as references to historical figures, recent criticism has alsoconsidered some of the biographical novels as relevant sources about theirfascinating lives. With the unwaning interest in the “star-crossed” lives of TedHughes and Sylvia Plath and the enormous amount of critical material aboutthem in the form of numerous biographies, monographs, articles, and films, atleast five well-known novels have tried to shed light on their tumultuousrelationship and marriage culminating with the intention to start divorceproceedings and Plath’s suicide. This paper will explore empathy, endurance,authenticity and readability in two of them – Kate Moses’s Wintering (2003) andSusan Schaeffer’s Poison (2006) while making a commentary on the ever-elusivesymbolic truth about the two poets that both novels attempt to illuminate.

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