How does one coexist with the idea of death? The writings of Sylvia Plath question this idea relentlessly from the beginning of her writing career. The novella titled Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom, written in 1952, remained unpublished until 2019—it is considered to be one of her earliest works. The story is a curious take on fate, life, and death. Plath described it as a “vague symbolic tale” when she submitted it to Mademoiselle magazine. The same publication that awarded one of her earlier submissions rejected the story because it didn’t align with the magazine’s editorial content.
The novella follows a young woman called Mary Ventura, put on a train by her parents to a mysterious destination: The Ninth Kingdom. At the beginning, the journey is rather pleasant, but as the pictures behind the train window change, so does the train atmosphere—baleful omens start to threaten her serene journey. The only flicker of hope is an older woman sitting next to Mary, who challenges Mary’s passivity in the face of doom. The protagonist’s growing anxiety and the whispers of her companion prompt her to rebel against the wishes of her parents and the contract each passenger willingly signs. She escapes her fate and “the kingdom of frozen will” by taking matters into her own hands and jumping off the train, finally finding her own peace.
Written mere months before Plath’s first suicide attempt, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom can be seen as an exploration of her internal struggle—a fight that she had to endure all her life, which poetically haunted her writing.
Dante’s nine circles of hell parallel Mary’s journey, which has nine stops. While the classic echoes in this book, it is on its own Plath’s metaphorical approach to death. She depicts a woman who has emancipated from her parents through her own choices, a woman who challenges death itself and finds herself a tranquil end.
In the end, this particular piece of horror fiction beautifully intertwines with a coming-of-age genre, where new rules apply. This fictional story invites the reader to ponder beyond Dante’s approach to death and join Plath in her own reimagination of the soul’s journey after death. The author transforms the terror of inevitability into an allegory of choice, making it a heavy yet quick, short story which will linger in the reader’s mind for a very long time after the final page. It is a story that will resonate with every person who decides to pick up this quick read.
Words by Ecaterina Vasiloi