Elizabeth Bishop: Life and the Memory of It [Paperback]

Brett C. Millier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Elizabeth Bishop dedicated her poetry to telling "what really happened." Yet what really happened in the life on one of the twentieth century's finest and most beloved American poets has eluded readers for years. In this first full biography, Brett Miller pieces together the compelling and painful story of Bishop's life and traces the writing of her brilliantly crafted poems.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this first full-length biography of Bishop (1911-1979) Millier provides readers with fresh insights as she traces Bishop's development as a poet from her childhood in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. Bishop's father's death when she was eight months old was a double cataclysm: as well as taking her father from her, it damaged the mental health of her mother, who was institutionalized for most of the rest of her life. Millier, a professor of American literature and civilization at Middlebury College, stresses how Bishop's virtual orphanhood affected her later life and led her to develop a painful rootlessness. The story of Bishop's early career--her coming-of-age at Vassar College and the mentorship of Marianne Moore--is extraordinarily interesting, as are her better-known relationships with such literary figures as Robert Lowell. Millier neglects neither the tragic aspects of Bishop's life--most notably her alcoholism--nor the most personal, her homosexuality, approaching such subjects with compassion and respect. Although Millier acknowledges that "we cannot know what Bishop thought," Millier's own psychological speculations creep in, and they are the weakest part of her work. This biography is, however, a major contribution to our understanding of Bishop. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From The New Yorker

"Unlike Lowell and other poets of her time, Bishop disdained the confessional but Millier's authoritative reading of her poems suggests how they allude glancingly, through ironic veils of fable and allegory, to her homosexuality, her alcoholism, and her paralyzing depression. This biography will act as a powerful corrective to the impression of serene perfection engendered by the greatest of Bishop's poems; they were in no way as easy to write as their author made them seem." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 602 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520203453
• ISBN-13: 978-0520203457
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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