Material To Spiritual Eros To Thanatos A Comparative And Psychoanalytic Feminist Study On The Select Poems Of Kamala Das And Sylvia Plath

Abstract

The power of a pen is enormous, when it gets into the right hands, it displays the newlineperpetual beauty of art. Kamala Das and Sylvia Plath are writers of this kind who have not only newlinetook the confessional style of poetry to another level, but also have polished and illuminated the newlineminds of their readers, where the readers can not only enjoy the beauty of their art work but also newlinecan identify with the emotion in it. Kamala Das is a woman nurtured in a traditional society of newlineIndia, where Plath is an American, educated and comparatively liberated woman. As they don t newlinefollow or respect any conventions in the society there were, like any other confessional writers newlinelabelled as neurotic. The injustice in the society made them introspect and as a result they stayed newlineunique away from compromises. newlineThe study is entitled as Material to spiritual, Eros to Thanatos: A Psychoanalytic newlineFeminist study on the select poems of Kamala Das and Sylvia Plath . It is an explorative, newlineinterpretative, partially biographical and analytic study on the material and Spiritual life of newlineKamala Das and Sylvia Plath their inclinations towards Freudian Eros and Thanatos. How the newlineelements of Eros/life instinct and Thanatos/death instinct is found in the select poems of Kamala newlineDas and Sylvia Plath. The study got impetus through the theory of Psychoanalytic Feminism and newlineFreudian principles of Eros and Thanatos. The thesis statement is, The confessional technique newlineand spiritual inclination aided Das to complete her journey of life by enriching herself with life newlineinstincts. Whereas, the confessional vent could not support Plath as she was overwhelmed with newlinedeath instincts and wavering tendencies towards religion and spirituality resulting in her terrible newlinedistress and suicide . The study targets at the select concepts of Psychoanalytic feminism put newlineforward by Nancy J Chodorow in her books Reproduction of mothering:Psychoanalysis and the newlineix newline newlineSociology of Gender and Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond.