Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-164) and index.

Introduction -- Biographical sketch -- The story behind the story -- List of characters -- Summary and analysis -- Howard Moss on illness and disclosure in the novel -- Vance Bourjaily on pseudonyms and alternate identities -- Robert Scholes on Plath's use of realism -- Linda W. Wagner on the female coming-of-age novel -- E. Miller Budick on Plath's feminist discourse -- Diane S. Bonds on Esther's tentative rebirth -- Paula Bennett on models of womanhood -- Pat Macpherson on the portrayal of social and gender conventions -- Tim Kendall on Esther's search for identity -- Marilyn Boyer on language and disability -- Kate A. Baldwin on the novel's social and political contexts -- Janet Badia on pop culture appropriations of The bell jar -- Works by Sylvia Plath -- Annotated bibliography.