Slate observed the 50th anniversary of Sylvia Plath’s death by posting a piece by the always controversial Katie Roiphe, where she floats her theory that”Quite sensibly biographers and critics have always thought that Plath’s most famous poem, “Daddy,” was about her father. I would like to float out the theory that it is really about her mother.”

Thoughts on the piece aside (I’m sure you will read plenty on Twitter…), I’m starting to get the feeling that Roiphe is the person that Slate most likes to call up to write these death day pieces on writers. Last year there was her piece on “The bizarre and misguided critical assault on John Updike’s reputation,” which fell on the third anniversary of Updike’s passing, and then a few months later, she had a piece ready on May 8th, 2012, when Maurice Sendak passed away.

Proof that death is a pretty good business for a writer.

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