The Tricky Art of Living in a Body

March 18, 2023 4:56 PM

General readers of American poetry probably know Bishop as the author of “One Art.” ... College students will be familiar with other poems and perhaps biographical details, including her increasing importance as a queer poet. Her alcohol use disorder is often there in the shadows, her asthma too. But what about her eczema, the first of three lifelong conditions to develop in childhood and the one that quite literally affected her ability to write? from Elizabeth Bishop’s Eczema by Jonathan Ellis
posted by chavenet (3 comments total)

Thank you, this was very interesting.
posted by PussKillian at 7:13 PM on March 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

from the article:
"She also had several stabs at biographical readings herself, such as the following comments on Flannery O’Connor’s fiction: The writing is so damned good compared to almost anything else one reads—economical, clear, horrifying, real..."

A good story is hard to find.
posted by clavdivs at 7:54 PM on March 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

Wonderful essay. A new word for me to learn "avernal". And a new way to name alcoholism, "alcohol use disorder", or at least new to me. Is that how we're labeling that, now?
posted by Lookinguppy at 7:29 AM on March 20, 2023