Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath, whose works are required reading for anyone undergoing a particularly gloomy breakup, was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, detailed the descent into mental illness with a candor that probably made many 1950s suburban mothers clutch their pearls.

While her prose might have been as dark as a winter's night in Boston, Plath's literary impact was undeniable. She basically invented the