adendum to my previous post.

after re-reading my last post this morning, I find it kind of insane that I am comparing Sylvia Plath to Steve Martin. It's so unlikely and the only thing the two really have in common is that I just read their books back to back. Still it would only be fair to point out that while Steve Martin did not give up and Sylvia Plath did, Steve Martin is a man who came of age in the 60's and Sylvia was a woman who came of age in the 50's - putting a very different set of choices on their respective plates. At the time of her death, Sylvia was separated from her husband and trying to raise 3 small children and write some of the world's best poems at the same time. She was living in a small apt. in London and at the time of her death it was the middle of a very cold winter and had lost her heat. I'd be eyeing the oven too. So it's not exactly a level playing field here. Also, Sylvia struggled with horrible depression. Steve Martin did suffer from massive panic attacks for many years but he had many affairs with beautiful women throughout his career and "settling down" or having children was never on the list of things to do.