From Self to Shelf: The Artist Under Construction

by Sally Bayley (Editor)

'From Self to Shelf is a marvellously rich and various exploration of the interplay between biographical and aesthetic selves, ranging from the great self-inventions of the Romantic poets, through the complexities of revelation and impersonality that characterise twentieth century art, and down to the knowing dramas of reticence and display that distinguish the work of so many leading contemporaries. It includes essays in literary criticism, chapters in the history of painting and of music, biographical accounts, and studies in popular culture, as well as reflections by eminent practitioners. The editors have assembled an outstanding group of contributors, with names both new and familiar, to produce a volume at once absorbing and surprising, warmly alive to the human stories it tells while remaining theoretically up-to-date, and creating a book that is altogether as engaging and thought-provoking as the masterpieces it illuminates.' Seamus Perry. Fellow and Tutor in English, Balliol College, Oxford.

250 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Dr Sally Bayley is a tutor in English at Balliol and St. Hugh’s Colleges, Oxford and a member of the Oxford University English Faculty. She is the author of Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath’s Art of the Visual (Oxford University Press, 2007). Eye Rhymes was the first study of Plath’s art work in relation to her body of poetry and prose and was featured in the Sunday Times magazine, on Radio 4 and at the Royal Festival Hall alongside a series of uniquely commissioned pieces of theatre, dance, art and animation, several of which won awards.

In 2007 alongside the publication of Eye Rhymes Sally Bayley commissioned a play exploring the representation of Sylvia Plath's biography. The award winning play, I Wish I Had A Sylvia Plath, a one woman show written and performed by Elisabeth Gray, will run Off Broadway for the month of October 2010. The play will feature alongside a symposium at New York University and will include the director and producer of the forthcoming film adaptation of Plath's novel The Bell Jar: Tristine Skyer and Julia Stiles.

Source: http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/about-fac...