Sylvia Plath's Son Commits Suicide

(NEWSER) - Nicholas Hughes’ depression and eventual suicide were caused by the loss of his father in 1998, the Times reports. The younger Hughes and his father shared a special bond, and when Ted Hughes died, renowned fish biologist Nicholas “lost the relationship that mattered most to him,” a friend said of Hughes, whose mother, poet Sylvia Plath, committed suicide in 1963. More»

'What happened that night?' asks tormented husband

(NEWSER) - A newly discovered poem by Sylvia Plath's husband reveals Ted Hughes' agonizing struggle to come to terms with his young wife's 1963 suicide. It's the first Hughes' poem known to directly address the circumstances surrounding the death of the famous American writer wracked by depression. "Then a voice like a selected weapon / or a carefully measured injection / coolly delivered its four words deep into my ear / your wife is dead," reads one version of the poem, "The Last Letter." The sad news that his estranged wife and mother of their two young children had gassed herself came to Hughes in a phone call. More»

Unpublished correspondence up for sale

(NEWSER) - A collection of letters written by Lord Byron to a clergyman, some of them unpublished, sheds new light on the Romantic poet—who discloses his sexual escapades with servants and angry opinions of fellow writers. Several letters refer to a serving girl whom he took as his mistress; he dumped her after discovering she was unfaithful, even though he was, too. He also writes of his admiration for the Albanian pasha's hundreds of women and boys, "and very pretty creatures they were." More»

Alexandra Petri wonders if the Bard should be, or not be, our literary touchstone

(NEWSER) - Is Shakespeare still relevant today? Before you answer, consider how many of his plays would be ruined by the addition of cellphones, writes Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post . "Soon, if we do a modern staging, we'll have to stipulate that, 'In fair Verona, where we lay our scene/The cell reception was spotty/From ancient grudge that brake the AT&T." Yesterday was Shakespeare's birthday, and it led Petri to wonder if he's one of those celebrities "who are famous primarily because they are famous." More»

As he nears 200, the novelist is more relevant than ever: Michael Levenson

(NEWSER) - Charles Dickens wrote in the 19th century, but at nearly 200 years old, he’s an expert on the 21st century as well. "For the mid-Victorians, government intervention was unthinkable, the market was king, only private philanthropy was tolerated," writes Michael Levenson for Slate . In other words, to paraphrase a Tale of Two Cities, it was a time much like the present. Dickens "has caught up to us, or we have reverted to him," Levenson notes. "Either way, it’s time to return to Dickens." More»