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English major Brinn Wallin is in the midst of a research project that aims to shift the conversation around the 20th century author and poet Sylvia Plath — directing more attention to her life and legacy and not just her much-analyzed death.

Wallin, a transfer student on track to graduate in 2026, undertook the project with the support of the UCLA/Keck Humanistic Inquiry Undergraduate Research Awards program. Her paper is called “The Enduring Phantom of Sylvia Plath: Misrepresentation and a Life Survived by Death.”

In an interview with the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Wallin spoke about her personal connection to the subject matter, her advice for other students who are considering research projects and what she hopes her the legacy of her research will be.

How did you first get interested in your project?

My discovery of and love for Sylvia Plath began at a quintessential time in my life, and one that I view as somewhat of a synchronicity. I first picked up her only novel, “The Bell Jar,” as I was being discharged from a mental health facility. Though the basis of my hospitalization was different from Plath’s, as well as Esther Greenwood’s in this novel, there were several poignant similarities in our struggles.

I started reading her poetry, specifically her earliest poems, which doubled my interest in her. However, I began to notice something while studying Plath and her work in academia: She was known, above all, by her suicide. This repeated focus on her death, more than her immense work and influence, spawned a desire in me to research this misrepresentation of her life, work and legacy. In doing so, my frustrations deepened as my passion grew.

When I transferred to UCLA, I applied to an introductory research program to legitimize what has now been my years-long research journey. This research has made up the most prized and essential part of my years as an undergraduate student.

Read the full interview.

Photo credit: Randall Tobias