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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who witnessed Sylvia weeping over Ted's infidelity, claiming that she had given her whole heart to Ted and couldn't get it back?

2. Anne Stevenson began a lecture describing how her and Sylvia's background as well as ideology were similar, and they had both married _________.

3. Who was named the literary agent for the writings of Sylvia Plath after her death?

4. When did Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath marry?

5. What "friend" of Plath finally felt the freedom to express her true feelings for the poet by relating that she was a horrible wife and a martyr?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Olwyn Hughes offer Anne Stevenson if she would write a biography about Sylvia?

2. What power did Olwyn Hughes have over the Plath Library? What was Malcolm's impression of her after working with her on the book?

3. What lecture did Malcolm read of Anne Stevenson's defense of her biography in Part Two: Chapter I?

4. What does Malcolm write of the power and struggle of the biographer in Part One: Chapter I?

5. What is Plath's book The Bell Jar about? What was Sylvia's mother's reaction to the work?

6. What friend of Sylvia Plath's commented negatively about her life and death in Part One: Chapter II?

7. Where did Olwyn and Malcolm go together in Part One: Chapter VII? What did Malcolm learn there?

8. How did Janet Malcolm know Anne Stevenson in their youth? What was Malcolm's opinion of her?

9. What did critic Ronald Hayman write about Bitter Fame?

10. What qualities of Sylvia Plath's work made her appealing to feminists?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the relationship between Sylvia Plath and Olwyn Hughes. What were Malcolm's first impressions of Olwyn like?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Sylvia Plath's relationship with Richard Sassoon. When did they meet? How long did they have a relationship? What ended it?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the aftermath of Bitter Fame's publication. Should Anne Stevenson have published the book, considering her apprehension about its validity? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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