The Write Thing

In a previous posting, I referred to my feelings about poetry. I have been doing a lot of thinking about that in recent days, and have been very prone to reading challenging verses in my explorations around town. It struck me that there seem to be some associations we could make between writers, even when they may have never met, or may not even come from the same countries. By this I do not mean “influential writing”, the kind Borges is known to inflict upon incautious readers. I am speaking about connections, similarities in the ways of seeing the world, or suffering it, for that matter.

The case that comes to mind today is that of Sylvia Plath and Alejandra Pizarnik. Plath (1932-1963) was born in Massachusetts, and Pizarnik (1936-1972) in Buenos Aires. I remember reading Pizarnik’s Sala de Psicopatología almost a year ago on a Saturday afternoon in Buenos Aires, as I was sitting in my balcony. Many years before, I had read Plath’s The Bell Jar and, later, one of the best poems ever written: Lady Lazarus*.

It is at some point striking (at least it was to me) how both writers approach the subject of death and suffering as worn-out souls in a world of less sensitive beings. The harshness of Pizarnik’s taboo Spanish, the sharp and cutting sounds of Plath’s monosyllables in her own inverted eulogy to everything and nothing are the meeting points of their synergy, which is particular to each of them and common to both in nature. I have read lengthy discussions on the authors’ death techniques, the repeated suicide attempts and other alleged similarities, but I do not really think those are interesting themselves. Their writing and the distinct communion of chance it holds are far more important to me in drawing a common line. I see these more as Double Vie de Véronique traits than as a mirroring reflection of mutual admiration. I ignore Plath’s or Pizarnik’s actual knowledge of one another, and it is far from relevant. The key element seems to be parallelism instead of imitation, art that emerges unique in the form of two different but resembling realities.

*If you click on the link you will be able to access the BBC website, where Plath’s own reading of the poem is posted. A “must do” if you want to enjoy a blissful moment of perfection.