Divisions of the Heart: Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Memory and Place

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

Elizabeth Bishop, born in Nova Scotia but living most of her life in the
United States, was one of the most accomplished poets of the mid-20th
century. Divisions of the Heart presents the papers of an international
conference devoted to her work that took place at Acadia University in
1998. Twenty-four essays are included. As usual in such cases, they
range from the exemplary through the plodding to the regrettable. And
also as usual when a writer is concerned, the best contributions are
those that concentrate on the writing, while the worst take the less
challenging course of applying (generally forcing) the principles of
fashionable ideologies.

Among the excellent contributions are Peter Sanger’s loving study of
the impact of school primers and readers on Bishop’s work, a piece of
local research that, sensitively applied, throws light on some of her
most moving poems; Jeffery Donaldson’s thoughtful and informed piece
on “Sestina”; Neil Besner’s exemplary discussion of
“Santarém”; and A. Elizabeth McKim and Roger Moore’s fascinating
essay on Bishop’s translations of Octavio Paz, a contribution all the
more welcome because it draws attention to a generally neglected aspect
of her work. In addition, at the centre of the book is a delightful
“photo essay” in which Sandra Barry reproduces newly acquired items
from the Acadia University archives.

At the other end of the scale (though I would exempt Glenn Robert
Gill’s useful study of “The Fish” from this generalization), there
are too many graduate students and others using the occasion to
accumulate entries on their c.v.s, and the book ends with a crude
colonialism-is-bad piece of political correctness that misses all the
subtlety and grace that distinguish Bishop’s sociopolitical effects.
As for the essays focusing on lesbianism, I feel bound to deplore the
tasteless intrusion on Bishop’s personal privacy (which she so clearly
cherished) and express my firm conviction that she would find them as
offensive as I do.

Still, when one has dismissed the dross, there is enough useful and
even essential criticism here to make this compilation a worthwhile
addition to the now extensive library shelf devoted to Bishop studies.