The Serious World (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781960145833)

The Serious World is a collection of epistolary poems written to Sylvia Plath about depression, therapy, friendship, family, and the struggling life of an artist. With humor, sensitivity, and deep reflection, Laura Read explores many themes including mental health, suicide, loss, feminism, motherhood, and aging, offering a fresh view of the world as seen through the feminist poet's searching spyglass.

Reaching back into history to talk with
Plath and other historical figures who have suffered and wrote about their
suffering, Read tries to make sense of what it's like to be alive and suffering
now. These deeply felt poems include language from Plath's The Bell
Jar and poems about Marguerite Duras and Simone de Beauvoir, along with other
strange bedfellows from pop culture who make appearances, among them Kenny
Rogers, Dr. Seuss, Kurt Cobain, and Courtney Love.

Author: Laura Read
ISBN-10: 1960145835
ISBN-13: 9781960145833
Publisher: BOA Editions
Language: English
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 95
Format: Paperback