Female Identity In The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath 's The Bell Jar was first published in the UK in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel received good reviews; it was critically acclaimed and became a best-seller. It was published again with Plath 's name on the cover. At the time, this change attracted the attention of readers who felt the urge to read the work of a novelist, who was better known as a poet. Not just the different genre in her artistic creation, but also her recent suicide magnetized many readers and critics. Consequently, between 1966 and 1977, Plath 's British publisher, Faber, sold over 140000 copies of the novel (cited in Gill, 2008, p. 74).
Critics have commented on the parallels between the events in the novel and Plath 's real life. Plath herself underlines the confessional and semi-autobiographical nature of the novel when she calls it an "autobiographical apprenticework" (cited in Perloff, 1972, p. 507). Bawer adds to the weight of this claim by stating that in her journals, Plath feels as if she was stuck under the bell jar (in Bloom, Ed., 2007, p. 9). The events that take place in The Bell Jar mark a turning point in the heroine 's worldview and her understanding of female identity. Esther gradually realizes that there is little room for
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