Suicide Of Sylvia Plath’s Son Is Turned Into Lit Gossip

“Nicholas Hughes had suffered for years from depression. He had had a long and distinguished career as a marine biologist, a professor at the University of Alaska. But of course that is not the story people want. ‘Depressed person commits suicide’ is not a headline. A headline is ‘The Curse of Plath!’ Yet the ‘curse’ idea is repellent.”