Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil and After

The life and career of American poet and writer Elizabeth Bishop falls into two distinct segments: the pre–Brazil years and the Brazil years and beyond. A creature of displacement from childhood, Bishop traveled to Brazil at the age of 40 for a two–week trip and unexpectedly stayed for most of the next two decades, a sojourn that marked her work indelibly. This study explores how Bishop’s personal and literary experience in Brazil influenced her work culturally, historically, and linguistically, while she was in Brazil and following her return to the United States. Focusing on the “Brazilian” characteristics of Bishop’s work as well as some of the major poems she composed before settling in Brazil, this volume offers fresh perspective on one of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers.

George Monteiro is a professor emeritus of English and of Portuguese and Brazilian studies at Brown University and the author or editor of books on Henry James, Henry Adams, Robert Frost, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Fernando Pessoa, and Luis de Camões, among others.

George Monteiro
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 224
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6693-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9129-2
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Introduction 4
Prologue: The Map 9
Brazil
1. The Unwritten Elegy 11
2. Unravished Brides 23
3. Driving to the Interior 33
4. Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow 46
5. Fire and Light 52
6. Eye of the Sparrow 58
7. Good Times at Cabo Frio 64
8. An Ordinary Evening 70
9. Promenade 74
10. In the Middle of the Road 81
11. Crusoe in the Land of Vera Cruz 88
12. A Tale of Jam and Jelly 91
13. “A Miracle for Breakfast” 96
14. The Brazil Book 98
15. Scenery, Storms 123
Elsewhere
16. Different Hats, Different Folks 127
17. Village Matters 130
18. The Art of the Scapegoat 140
19. Burning Bridges 150
20. The Misprint and the Mouse 155
21. Building a Rhyme for Ezra 161
22. Send in a Toy 167
23. Down to the Sea 170
24. Free to Be Free 173
Epilogue: The Last Book 179
Chapter Notes 183
Bibliography 201
Index 207