"More Than a Case Study: Experiencing Depth with Sylvia Plath"

Abstract

More than a Case Study: Retrieving Depth from Sylvia Plath’s Poetry

I explore how Sylvia Plath’s writings on bodies-in-pain and suicidal bodies provide
insights into how we can avoid objectification in case study analyses. I identify four ways a case
study’s framework and analysis can diminish the complexity of those under discussion: reducing
the subject to her body, omitting analysis of social variables, focusing on the surface body, and
ignoring the embodied relationship between scholar and case. Rather than viewing case studies
as mere illustrations or resources, we need to attune ourselves to what is being revealed in the
depths of our engagement.