“Daddies” in Controversial Memoirs and Confessions: Laurie Sandell and Sylvia Plath
Keywords:
comics memoir, confessional poetry, memoir controversy, Laurie Sandell, Sylvia PlathAbstract
Autobiographies, memoirs and confessions are widely read genres of non-fiction which have captured the attention of a wide readership for centuries. In recent decades such texts have become more open and intimate, resulting in many controversies, mainly over their fidelity to actual events. Based on an analysis of two texts dealing with the image of a father - the comics memoir The Impostor’s Daughter (2009) by contemporary artist Laurie Sandell and the confessional poem “Daddy” (written 1962, published in 1965) by Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) – this paper explores the nature of memoir, confessional writing and the main features thereof including objectivity and distancing and the emphasis on factual fidelity. Both writers developed an Electra complex and in their works they capture the changing relationships with their fathers from childhood to adulthood, their failing relationships with other men, suicide attempts, and depressions. Even though the comics memoir and confessional poetry differ on the level of genre and form, Plath and Sandell’s attitude and the depiction of their fathers follows similar patterns, as both texts cover a certain limited period of time and closely follows the influence of their fathers on the authors’ mental development.
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