Elizabeth Bishop and the Literary Archive: Planned Activities, Class 2

Elizabeth Bishop and the Literary Archive 

NEH Summer Seminar June 12-30, 2017 

Vassar College Project 

Director: Dr. Bethany Hicok

"Tuesday, June 13:   Introductions: We will be introducing ourselves and our teaching and research interests as they relate to the seminar topics. What project will you be working on during the three weeks? After these introductions, we begin with a discussion of Bishop as a poet. What makes her important? What poems do we value the most? Why? How do we teach her? This first day of the seminar is important to help establish the poet at the center of our study and to explore the different approaches that we might build on as we interrogate the relationship between the poet and her archives. Ron Patkus will join us during the last half hour of our session to talk about Bishop’s papers, the history and contents of the Vassar archive, recent acquisitions, and holdings in other repositories. He will also review procedures for using the collection at Vassar. 

"Readings: Core readings that will inform our discussion about the poet and her archives include these primary sources—Bishop’s poems, letters, and drafts, including Poems, Prose, Edgar Allan Poe & the Juke-Box, and published letters (One Art, Words in Air, Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker).  [...]"