Elizabeth Bishop in Context
Elizabeth Bishop is increasingly recognised as one of the twentieth century's most original writers. Consisting of thirty-five ground-breaking essays by an international team of authors, including biographers, literary critics, poets and translators, this volume addresses the biographical and literary inception of Bishop's originality, from her formative upbringing in New England and Nova Scotia to long residences in New York, France, Florida and Brazil. Her poetry, prose, letters, translations and visual art are analysed in turn, followed by detailed studies of literary movements such as surrealism and modernism that influenced her artistic development. Bishop's encounters with nature, music, psychoanalysis and religion receive extended treatment, likewise her interest in dreams and humour. Essays also investigate the impact of twentieth-century history and politics on Bishop's life writing, and what it means to read Bishop via eco-criticism, postcolonial theory and queer studies.
- Addresses key contexts for understanding Bishop's artistic development and her continuing relevance for contemporary poets
- Incorporates the latest discoveries in Bishop studies, including analysis of unpublished drafts, notebook entries and letters
- Provides thirty-five ground-breaking essays by an international team of established and emerging Bishop scholars
Reviews & endorsements
‘With imagination and precision, this first-rate collection of essays explores the varied contexts – geographical, familial, historical, artistic, intellectual, social, cultural and political – that influenced Elizabeth Bishop's literary career. Read in such diverse contexts, Bishop's work emerges as more complex, multi-faceted, and surprising than even long-term readers might expect. This book is a must-read for readers new to Bishop and for those that thought they knew her.' Susan Rosenbaum, University of Georgia
'Like Bishop’s writing itself, this volume is a miracle of composition. Simultaneously intimate and vast, local and distant, formally precise and wildly inventive, Cleghorn and Ellis pull off a nearly impossible trick. Their collection really does provide a ‘context’ for one of the twentieth century’s most purposefully unsettled poetic voices. Framing and reframing Bishop’s work against dozens of different shifting backgrounds, the collection somehow manages to pull it ‘all together’ to make ‘just one’. I guarantee: anyone who has ever appreciated Bishop will appreciate this.' Alexander MacLeod, Saint Mary's University
‘… is a groundbreaking, comprehensive collection of essays that penetrates and reveals numerous facts of Elizabeth Bishop's life and legacy …’ Tristan Beach, The Elizabeth Bishop Blog
‘Carefully edited with thoughtful consideration given to readability, this volume will be of great value to literary students and scholars … Recommended.’ R. M. Roberts, Choice Connect
Product details
August 2021Hardback
9781108495974
400 pages
235 × 159 × 30 mm
0.86kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction Angus Cleghorn and Jonathan Ellis
- Part I. Places:
- 1. Nova Scotia Sandra Barry
- 2. New England Heather Treseler
- 3. New York Jo Gill
- 4. Paris, France Lisa Goldfarb
- 5. Florida Sarah Kennedy
- 6. Brazil Neil Besner
- Part II. Forms:
- 7. Lyric poetry Gillian White
- 8. Prose Vidyan Ravinthiran
- 9. Letters Langdon Hammer
- 10. Translation Mariana Machova
- 11. Visual art Linda Anderson
- 12. Archives Bethany Hicok
- Part III. Literary Contexts:
- 13. Romantic and Victorian poetry Peter Swaab
- 14. Surrealism and the Avant-Garde Andrew Epstein
- 15. Modernism Philip McGowan
- 16. Mid-Century Poetics Kamran Javadizadeh
- 17. Brazilian literature Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
- Part IV. Politics, Society and Culture:
- 18. War Charles Berger
- 19. The cold war Steven Axelrod
- 20. Music Christopher Spaide
- 21. Psychoanalysis Lorrie Goldensohn
- 22. Religion Cheryl Walker
- 23. Anthropology Barbara Page
- 24. Travel Jeffrey Gray
- Part V. Identity:
- 25. Dreams Bonnie Costello
- 26. Humor Rachel Trousdale
- 27. Gender Deryn Rees-Jones
- 28. Queerness Michael Snediker
- 29. Race Sandeep Parmar
- 30. Nature Angus Cleghorn
- 31. Animals Marianne MacRae
- Part VI. Reception and Criticism:
- 32. Bishop studies Thomas Travisano
- 33. Criticism and reviews Jonathan Ellis
- 34. 'My saving grace': On editing Elizabeth Bishop Lloyd Schwartz
- 35. Bishop's influence Stephanie Burt.