In recent years, a series of major collections of posthumous writings by
Elizabeth Bishop--one of the most widely read and discussed poets of the twentieth
century--have been published, profoundly affecting how we look at her life and work. The
hundreds of letters, poems, and other writings in these volumes have expanded Bishop's
published work by well over a thousand pages and placed before the public a "new" Bishop
whose complexity was previously familiar to only a small circle of scholars and devoted readers.
This collection of essays by many of the leading figures in Bishop studies provides a deep and
multifaceted account of the impact of these new editions and how they both enlarge and complicate
our understanding of Bishop as a cultural icon. Contributors:
Charles Berger, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville * Jacqueline Vaught Brogan,
University of Notre Dame * Angus Cleghorn, Seneca College * Jonathan Ellis, University of
Sheffield * Richard Flynn, Georgia Southern University * Lorrie Goldensohn * Jeffrey
Gray, Seton Hall University * Bethany Hicok, Westminster College * George Lensing,
University of North Carolina * Carmen L. Oliveira * Barbara Page, Vassar College *
Christina Pugh, University of Illinois at Chicago * Francesco Rognoni, Catholic University in
Milan * Peggy Samuels, Drew University * Lloyd Schwartz, University of Massachusetts, Boston
* Thomas Travisano, Hartwick College * Heather Treseler, Worcester State University *
Gillian White, University of Michigan