#literature

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‘I want my career, my children and a free supple life’: Sylvia Plath’s radical reinvention

Too often framed as a tragic icon or a victim of domesticity, the poet remade herself and her work at the start of the 60s, as a new collection will show

by Helen Bain

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/22/i-want-my-career-my-children-and-a-free-supple-life-sylvia-plaths-radical-reinvention?utm_term=69c003f9f4a6758ad9a531ffaeb469c8&utm_campaign=Bookmarks&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=bookmarks_email

Sylvia Plath, sitting sideways to the camera. A black and white photograph of Sylvia Plath with short dark hair, captured in a three-quarter profile view, her gaze directed slightly away from the camera. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath#/media/File:Sylvia_Plath.jpg
Sylvia Plath, sitting sideways to the camera. A black and white photograph of Sylvia Plath with short dark hair, captured in a three-quarter profile view, her gaze directed slightly away from the camera. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath#/media/File:Sylvia_Plath.jpg

The Real Count of Monte Cristo Was Alexandre Dumas’ Father, a Trailblazing Black General

Ahead of the March 22 premiere of a new TV adaptation, learn about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the French Army officer who inspired the beloved novel

by Joel Sams

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-count-of-monte-cristo-was-alexandre-dumas-father-a-trailblazing-black-general-180988347/

The Count of Monte Cristo at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1184

Painting of general-in-chief Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (1762-1806), he played a pivotal role in the French Revolutionary Wars. By Olivier Pichat Pichat captures Alexandre Dumas grand-père rearing black horse, drawn sabre, tricolour cockade in his bicorne hat, and cannon smoke billowing behind fortress walls. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Alexandre_Dumas_-_Olivier_Pichat.jpg

Climate change to identity: The vital lessons in Metamorphoses, Ovid's 2,000-year-old poem

You might think that Ovid's Metamorphoses, an ancient compendium of the greatest Greek myths, would hold little relevance today. But its tales of desire and deceit reveal surprising parallels with contemporary concerns, from climate change and the refugee crisis to gender-based violence and identity.

by Cath Pound

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260317-metamorphoses-ovids-2000-year-old-poem-says-a-lot-about-2026

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21765

Lycian farmers changed into frogs: Latona changes Lycian farmers into frogs, because while they were weeding a marsh, they prevented her and her children from quenching their thirst (Ovid, Metamorphoses VI 369) Claude Du Bosc / After Jean Jouvenet - Leto verandert de boeren in kikkers, Claude DuBosc, after Jean Baptiste Jouvenet, 1714 - Rijksmuseum The scene depicts the goddess Leto — mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus — fleeing the wrath of Hera after giving birth. Exhausted and thirsty, she stops at a pond in Lycia to drink, but local peasants cruelly prevent her and her infant children from reaching the water, stirring up the mud to make it undrinkable. In fury, she calls upon Jupiter and transforms the peasants into frogs. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Metamorphoses_(Ovid)#/media/File:Claude_Du_Bosc_after_Jean-Baptiste_Jouvenet,_Leto_and_the_Lycian_Peasants,_1714,_Rijksmuseum_RP-P-1905-2842.jpg