Assia Esther Wevill (néeGutmann; 15 May 1927 – 23 March 1969) was a German Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis at the beginning of World War II and emigrated to Palestine, via Italy, then later the United Kingdom, where she had an affair with the English poet Ted Hughes. While she was a successful advertising copywriter and a talented translator of poetry, she is mainly remembered in the context of her relationships with Sylvia Plath and Hughes.
Assia Gutmann was the daughter of a Jewish physician of Latvian origin, Lonya Gutmann, and a German Lutheran mother, Elisabeth "Lisa" (née Gaedeke).[1] Her sister Celia was born on 22 September 1929. They escaped the Nazis at the beginning of World War II and immigrated to Palestine. She spent most of her youth in Tel Aviv. Described by friends and family as a free-spirited young woman, she would go out to dance at the British soldiers' club, where she met Sergeant John Steele, with whom she moved to London in 1946[citation needed] and who became her first husband in 1947.[2]
According to her biographers, Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev, "she had entered an essentially loveless marriage with an Englishman at the age of 20 – largely to enable her family to immigrate to England."[3] The couple later immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, where Assia enrolled at the University of British Columbia and met the man who would become her second husband, Canadian economist Richard Lipsey.[4] Assia and Steele divorced in 1949[5] and she married Lipsey in 1952.[2]
In 1956, on a ship to London, she met the 21-year-old Canadian poet David Wevill. They began an affair and Assia divorced Lipsey; she married Wevill in 1960.[6]
Career
Wevill had a successful career in advertising[7] and was an aspiring poet who published, under her maiden name Assia Gutmann, an English translation of the work of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai.[8][9]
Plath noted their chemistry. Soon afterward, Hughes and Wevill began an affair. At the time of Plath's suicide, Wevill was pregnant with Hughes's child, but she had an abortion soon after Plath's death. The actual relationship, who instigated it, and its circumstances, have been hotly debated for many years.[11]
After Plath's suicide, Hughes moved Wevill into Court Green (the Devon home at North Tawton he had bought with Plath), where Wevill helped care for Hughes's and Plath's two children, Frieda and Nicholas. Wevill was reportedly haunted by Plath's memory; she even began using things that had once belonged to Plath.[12] In their biography of Assia, Lover of Unreason, Koren and Negev maintain that she used Plath's items not from obsession, but for the sake of practicality since she was maintaining a household for Hughes and his children. On 3 March 1965, at age 37, Wevill gave birth to Alexandra Tatiana Elise, nicknamed Shura, while still married to David Wevill.
Ostracized by her lover's friends and family,[13][11] and eclipsed by the figure of Plath in public life, Wevill became anxious and suspicious of Hughes's infidelity, which was real enough. Hughes began affairs with Brenda Hedden, a married acquaintance who frequented their home, and Carol Orchard, a nurse 20 years his junior, whom he would later marry in 1970. Wevill's relationship with Hughes was also fraught with other complexities, as shown by a collection of his letters to her acquired by Emory University.[14] She was continually distraught by his reluctance to marry her and establish a home together, as well as his treatment of her as a "housekeeper".[15] In his letter to Leonard Baskin on 16 July 1969, Hughes references Shura, his daughter with Wevill. He writes, "I have two nice children who make life a great pleasure.... I had a third, a little marvel, but she died with her mother."[16]
Death
On 23 March 1969, Wevill killed herself and four-year-old Shura in their London home at 3 Okeover Manor, Clapham Common. She had first sealed the kitchen door and window, then dissolved sleeping pills in a glass of water, chased with whisky, and then turned on the gas supply to the stove without lighting it. She and Shura were found by the family's German au pair, Else Ludwig, lying together on a mattress in the kitchen.[17]
Legacy
In advertising
Wevill composed the 90-second "Lost Island" advertisement for "Sea Witches" ladies' hair-dye product for television and cinemas, called a "breakthrough in type" and a "huge success" by her biographers, Koren and Negev, that was "applauded in theaters." The advert can be viewed in some classic ad compilations or sometimes as an online posting.[7][18]
In literature
Ted Hughes's volume of poetry Crow (1970) was dedicated to the memory of Assia and Shura.
His poem "Folktale" deals with his relationship with Assia:
She wanted the silent heraldry
Of the purple beach by the noble wall.
He wanted Cabala the ghetto demon
With its polythene bag full of ashes.
Hughes published half a dozen poems he had written for Assia, which were hidden among the total of 240 in New Selected Poems (1989).
In "The Error." he wrote:
When her grave opened its ugly mouth
why didn't you just fly,
Why did you kneel down at the grave's edge
to be identified
accused and convicted?
In "The Descent", he wrote:
your own hands, stronger than your choked outcry,
Took your daughter from you. She was stripped from you,
The last raiment
Clinging round your neck, the sole remnant
Between you and the bed
In the underworld
Assia appears as "Helen" in Fay Weldon's novel Down Among the Women (1971).
In October 2015, the BBC Two documentary Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death examined Hughes's life and work, and included an examination of the part played by Wevill.[20]
References
^"Sorry affair". The Scotsman. 28 October 2006. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^ abPorter, Peter (28 October 2006). "Review: A Lover of Unreason by Assia Wevill". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^Koren, Yehuda & Negev, Eilat (9 September 2006). "I'm going to seduce Ted Hughes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^Lipsey, Richard (1997). Microeconomics, growth and political economy. Elgar. p. xiv and footnote 4, page xxxv.
^"The Other Woman: Assia Wevill". ForBooksSake.net. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^"Haunted by the ghosts of love". The Guardian. London. 10 April 1999. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^ abKoren, Yehuda (2006). A Lover of Unreason. London: Robson Books. p. 151. ISBN1861059744.
^ abSigmund, Elizabeth (23 April 1999). "'I realised Sylvia knew about Assia's pregnancy - it might have offered a further explanation of her suicide'". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
^Morris, Tim. "The People in Sylvia's Life". University of Texas, Arlington. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
^Koren, Yehuda; Negev, Eilat (19 October 2006). "Written out of history". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
^Bosman, Julie (10 January 2007). "Ted Hughes Letters Go to Emory University". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^Reid, Christopher (16 September 2008) [2007]. Letters of Ted Hughes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN9780374185305.
^ O'Connor, Anahad (23 March 2009). "Son of Sylvia Plath commits suicide". The New York Times. from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^Farmer, Richard (2016). "Cinema advertising and the Sea Witch 'Lost Island' film (1965)". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 36 (4): 569–586. doi:10.1080/01439685.2015.1129709.
^Scott, A. O. (17 October 2003). "FILM REVIEW; A Poet's Death, A Death's Poetry". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
^"BBC Two - Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death". Bbc.co.uk. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
Further reading
Feinstein, Elaine. "Assia". Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet. pp. 120–124. Extract from Chapter 8 - Devon
Goodspeed-Chadwick, Julie. Reclaiming Assia Wevill: Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, and the Literary Imagination. LSU Press, 2019.
Goodspeed-Chadwick, Julie and Peter K. Steinberg (eds.). The Collected Writings of Assia Wevill. LSU Press, 2021.
External links
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Letters to Assia Wevill, 1955-1970
August 20, 2023
assia, wevill, assia, esther, wevill, née, gutmann, 1927, march, 1969, german, jewish, woman, escaped, nazis, beginning, world, emigrated, palestine, italy, then, later, united, kingdom, where, affair, with, english, poet, hughes, while, successful, advertisin. Assia Esther Wevill nee Gutmann 15 May 1927 23 March 1969 was a German Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis at the beginning of World War II and emigrated to Palestine via Italy then later the United Kingdom where she had an affair with the English poet Ted Hughes While she was a successful advertising copywriter and a talented translator of poetry she is mainly remembered in the context of her relationships with Sylvia Plath and Hughes Assia WevillBornAssia Esther Gutmann 1927 05 15 15 May 1927Berlin GermanyDied23 March 1969 1969 03 23 aged 41 Lambeth Greater London EnglandAlma materUniversity of British ColumbiaSpousesJohn Steele m 1947 div 1949 wbr Richard Lipsey m 1952 divorced wbr David Wevill m 1960 wbr PartnerTed Hughes 1962 1969 Children1 Contents 1 Early life and marriages 2 Career 3 Ted Hughes 4 Death 5 Legacy 5 1 In advertising 5 2 In literature 5 3 In film and television 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksEarly life and marriages EditAssia Gutmann was the daughter of a Jewish physician of Latvian origin Lonya Gutmann and a German Lutheran mother Elisabeth Lisa nee Gaedeke 1 Her sister Celia was born on 22 September 1929 They escaped the Nazis at the beginning of World War II and immigrated to Palestine She spent most of her youth in Tel Aviv Described by friends and family as a free spirited young woman she would go out to dance at the British soldiers club where she met Sergeant John Steele with whom she moved to London in 1946 citation needed and who became her first husband in 1947 2 According to her biographers Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev she had entered an essentially loveless marriage with an Englishman at the age of 20 largely to enable her family to immigrate to England 3 The couple later immigrated to Vancouver Canada where Assia enrolled at the University of British Columbia and met the man who would become her second husband Canadian economist Richard Lipsey 4 Assia and Steele divorced in 1949 5 and she married Lipsey in 1952 2 In 1956 on a ship to London she met the 21 year old Canadian poet David Wevill They began an affair and Assia divorced Lipsey she married Wevill in 1960 6 Career EditWevill had a successful career in advertising 7 and was an aspiring poet who published under her maiden name Assia Gutmann an English translation of the work of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai 8 9 Ted Hughes EditIn 1961 poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath rented their flat in Chalcot Square Primrose Hill London to Assia and David Wevill and took up residence at North Tawton Devon Hughes was immediately struck with Wevill as she was with him He later wrote We didn t find her she found us She sniffed us out She sat there Slightly filthy with erotic mystery I saw the dreamer in her Had fallen in love with me and she did not know it That moment the dreamer in me Fell in love with her and I knew it 10 Plath noted their chemistry Soon afterward Hughes and Wevill began an affair At the time of Plath s suicide Wevill was pregnant with Hughes s child but she had an abortion soon after Plath s death The actual relationship who instigated it and its circumstances have been hotly debated for many years 11 After Plath s suicide Hughes moved Wevill into Court Green the Devon home at North Tawton he had bought with Plath where Wevill helped care for Hughes s and Plath s two children Frieda and Nicholas Wevill was reportedly haunted by Plath s memory she even began using things that had once belonged to Plath 12 In their biography of Assia Lover of Unreason Koren and Negev maintain that she used Plath s items not from obsession but for the sake of practicality since she was maintaining a household for Hughes and his children On 3 March 1965 at age 37 Wevill gave birth to Alexandra Tatiana Elise nicknamed Shura while still married to David Wevill Ostracized by her lover s friends and family 13 11 and eclipsed by the figure of Plath in public life Wevill became anxious and suspicious of Hughes s infidelity which was real enough Hughes began affairs with Brenda Hedden a married acquaintance who frequented their home and Carol Orchard a nurse 20 years his junior whom he would later marry in 1970 Wevill s relationship with Hughes was also fraught with other complexities as shown by a collection of his letters to her acquired by Emory University 14 She was continually distraught by his reluctance to marry her and establish a home together as well as his treatment of her as a housekeeper 15 In his letter to Leonard Baskin on 16 July 1969 Hughes references Shura his daughter with Wevill He writes I have two nice children who make life a great pleasure I had a third a little marvel but she died with her mother 16 Death EditOn 23 March 1969 Wevill killed herself and four year old Shura in their London home at 3 Okeover Manor Clapham Common She had first sealed the kitchen door and window then dissolved sleeping pills in a glass of water chased with whisky and then turned on the gas supply to the stove without lighting it She and Shura were found by the family s German au pair Else Ludwig lying together on a mattress in the kitchen 17 Legacy EditIn advertising Edit Wevill composed the 90 second Lost Island advertisement for Sea Witches ladies hair dye product for television and cinemas called a breakthrough in type and a huge success by her biographers Koren and Negev that was applauded in theaters The advert can be viewed in some classic ad compilations or sometimes as an online posting 7 18 In literature Edit Ted Hughes s volume of poetry Crow 1970 was dedicated to the memory of Assia and Shura His poem Folktale deals with his relationship with Assia She wanted the silent heraldry Of the purple beach by the noble wall He wanted Cabala the ghetto demon With its polythene bag full of ashes Hughes published half a dozen poems he had written for Assia which were hidden among the total of 240 in New Selected Poems 1989 In The Error he wrote When her grave opened its ugly mouth why didn t you just fly Why did you kneel down at the grave s edge to be identified accused and convicted In The Descent he wrote your own hands stronger than your choked outcry Took your daughter from you She was stripped from you The last raiment Clinging round your neck the sole remnant Between you and the bed In the underworldAssia appears as Helen in Fay Weldon s novel Down Among the Women 1971 In film and television Edit In the feature film Sylvia 2003 Wevill is portrayed by Amira Casar 19 In October 2015 the BBC Two documentary Ted Hughes Stronger Than Death examined Hughes s life and work and included an examination of the part played by Wevill 20 References Edit Sorry affair The Scotsman 28 October 2006 Retrieved 2 June 2020 a b Porter Peter 28 October 2006 Review A Lover of Unreason by Assia Wevill The Guardian Retrieved 2 June 2020 Koren Yehuda amp Negev Eilat 9 September 2006 I m going to seduce Ted Hughes The Telegraph Retrieved 2 June 2020 Lipsey Richard 1997 Microeconomics growth and political economy Elgar p xiv and footnote 4 page xxxv The Other Woman Assia Wevill ForBooksSake net 15 May 2013 Retrieved 2 June 2020 Haunted by the ghosts of love The Guardian London 10 April 1999 Retrieved 2 June 2020 a b Koren Yehuda 2006 A Lover of Unreason London Robson Books p 151 ISBN 1861059744 Amichai Yehuda 1968 Selected Poems Translated by Assia Gutmann London Cape Goliard Press Amichai Yehuda 1971 Selected Poems Translated by Assia Gutmann and Harold Schimmel with collaboration of Ted Hughes Harmondsworth Penguin Books Hughes Ted 1998 Dreamers Birthday Letters Faber amp Faber a b Sigmund Elizabeth 23 April 1999 I realised Sylvia knew about Assia s pregnancy it might have offered a further explanation of her suicide The Guardian Retrieved 10 October 2010 Morris Tim The People in Sylvia s Life University of Texas Arlington Retrieved 10 October 2010 Koren Yehuda Negev Eilat 19 October 2006 Written out of history The Guardian Retrieved 10 October 2010 Bosman Julie 10 January 2007 Ted Hughes Letters Go to Emory University The New York Times Retrieved 2 June 2020 Smith David 10 September 2006 Ted Hughes the domestic tyrant The Observer Guardian Media Group Retrieved 2 June 2020 Reid Christopher 16 September 2008 2007 Letters of Ted Hughes Farrar Straus and Giroux ISBN 9780374185305 O Connor Anahad 23 March 2009 Son of Sylvia Plath commits suicide The New York Times Archived from the original on 25 February 2014 Retrieved 2 June 2020 Farmer Richard 2016 Cinema advertising and the Sea Witch Lost Island film 1965 Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television 36 4 569 586 doi 10 1080 01439685 2015 1129709 Scott A O 17 October 2003 FILM REVIEW A Poet s Death A Death s Poetry The New York Times The New York Times Company Retrieved 2 June 2020 BBC Two Ted Hughes Stronger Than Death Bbc co uk 10 October 2015 Retrieved 10 October 2015 Further reading EditFeinstein Elaine Assia Ted Hughes The Life of a Poet pp 120 124 Extract from Chapter 8 Devon Goodspeed Chadwick Julie Reclaiming Assia Wevill Sylvia Plath Ted Hughes and the Literary Imagination LSU Press 2019 Goodspeed Chadwick Julie and Peter K Steinberg eds The Collected Writings of Assia Wevill LSU Press 2021 External links EditStuart A Rose Manuscript Archives and Rare Book Library Emory University Letters to Assia Wevill 1955 1970 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Assia Wevill amp oldid 1162841052, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
