"Linda Wagner-Martin's emphasis in this study is the way Sylvia Plath made herself into a writer. In keeping with the critic's early groundbreaking work on American poet William Carlos Williams, she here studies elements of Plath's work with dedication to discussions of style and effect. Close attention to Plath's reading and her apprenticeship writing in both fiction and poetry provides information helpful to understanding the late work of the 1960s.

The book concludes with a section assessing Sylvia Plath's current standing."--BOOK JACKET.