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.

Promotional Information

This collection demonstrates the centrality of Elizabeth Bishop's poetry and prose to twentieth-century culture.

About the Author

Angus Cleghorn is editor of three books on Elizabeth Bishop: Elizabeth Bishop in the 21st Century: Reading the New Editions (2012), The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Bishop (2014), and Elizabeth Bishop and the Music of Literature (2019). He co-organized an 'Elizabeth Bishop in Paris' conference at the Sorbonne in 2018. Jonathan Ellis is the author or editor of four books on Elizabeth Bishop, including Art and Memory in the Work of Elizabeth Bishop (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Bishop (2014), and Letter Writing Among Poets (2015). He is also the author of a map of Elizabeth Bishop's Paris (2018).

Reviews

'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