Past, Loss and Nostalgia in Louise Bourgeois´ and Sylvia Plath´s Oeuvre

The weight of the past and the presence of loss in each individual´s life are undeniable. This is clearly so in the cases of Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), as loss is the driver of most of their production. The recreation of painful moments in Bourgeois´ life is the key to understand most of her work, especially her ‘Cells’. In Sylvia Plath´s case, her father´s death without a possible mourning and the later break-down of her marriage are drivers for some of the writer´s best poems.This article analyses the presence of loss and nostalgia in the artist and the writer´s work, focusing on the many similarities between the artist and the writer and pointing out the psychic landscapes they give place to (Douglas Porteous´s Landscapes of the Mind).Finally, there is also a vindication in the article of the feeling of loss as a powerful creative tool that stimulates action. In that respect, the article supports Alastair Bonnett´s point of view about the importance of acknowledging the feeling of nostalgia (The Geographies of Nostalgia).