Elizabeth Bishop in Context

This volume explores Elizabeth Bishop's life, work, and influence, featuring essays by a diverse team of authors. It examines her biographical and literary origins, her relationships with nature, music, psychoanalysis, and religion, and the impact of twentieth-century history and politics on her life writing.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 497 pages
Publication date: 02 February 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Elizabeth Bishop is increasingly recognized as one of the most original writers of the twentieth century. This comprehensive volume, consisting of thirty-five groundbreaking essays by an international team of authors, including biographers, literary critics, poets, and translators, delves into the biographical and literary origins of Bishop's exceptional originality. From her formative upbringing in New England and Nova Scotia to her extended residences in New York, France, Florida, and Brazil, the book explores the various factors that shaped her artistic development.

The analysis encompasses Bishop's poetry, prose, letters, translations, and visual art, providing in-depth examinations of the literary movements that influenced her, such as surrealism and modernism. Extensive attention is also given to her encounters with nature, music, psychoanalysis, and religion, as well as her interest in dreams and humor. The essays also investigate the impact of twentieth-century history and politics on Bishop's life writing, exploring what it means to read her through eco-criticism, postcolonial theory, and queer studies.

Through its comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach, this volume offers a fresh and insightful perspective on Elizabeth Bishop's remarkable literary legacy, shedding light on her enduring influence and relevance in contemporary literature.

ISBN-13: 9781108811378