Sylvia Plath’s only novel, 'The Bell Jar' (1963), is a semi-autobiographical account of a young woman’s descent into clinical depression. Plath published the book under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas because she feared the reactions of the people she had satirized in the book. The title refers to her feeling that a glass bell jar had descended over her, trapping her in her own distorted world and cutting her off from the rest of reality. Plath was primarily known as a 'confessional' poet, and her collection 'Ariel' is considered one of the most influential works of 20th-century poetry. Tragically, she took her own life just one month after 'The Bell Jar' was published in the UK. She posthumously became the first person to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry after their death, cementing her status as a literary icon.