Themes in the final stories in Jean Stafford's collection

The last 3 stories in Jean Stafford's Collected Stories (1969) shed some light, albeit obliquely, on her life and career and give us an insight to and appreciation of her work. One tells of an elderly, somewhat well-to-do woman living in an apartment in a declining neighborhood in Manhattan (hah, today it would be untouchable) whose social life consists of daily visits from friends and a regular correspondence w/ family members, particularly a much-beloved nephew in the army (the time seems to be during WW2). The nephew writes letters gushing w/ adoration of his aunt, so much so that they seem a little strange, beyond the pale. She hears word - JS just slips this in - that her nephew may be troubled. He sends her a package that, it turns out, contains a long lock of blond, beribboned, clipped at the nape; the aunt is frightened and repulsed by this. There's a reference, at the outset and conclusion of the story, that she seems completely unaware of the war that's going on across the ocean (she dreams of visits to Europe). I take this as a commentary and confessional from JS - as it's amazing how little her stories have to say about ongoing events, including 2 wars, taking place in her lifetime; her stories are completely apolitical in that sense, and perhaps she is doing some reckoning here. The final story in the Manhattan section (honestly, the specific city makes little difference in most of the Manhattan stories) tells of a woman who was a beauty throughout her life, but what her friends don't know is the extent to which she undergoes surgery and other treatments to maintain this beauty. At last the aging of her hands betray her, which leads to her bizarre reaction when a friend presents her w/ a gift of gloves. I have to wonder if this story emerges from JS's body-image issues, as she seems to have suffered from a disfiguring accident in her youth - recounted in some detail in the Interior Fortress story. The final piece - never published in book from until this edition - is The Influx of Poets, a clearly autobiographical story about her early marriage to Lowell and the immature, selfish, chauvinistic behavior of him and other poets who act out the poetic life - up all night reading aloud, drinking, supposedly writing - while their set-upon spouses maintain the household and earn a living. Lowell in particular is a sad case, as she depicts what seems obviously to be a bipolar condition, with huge swings of emotion and absurd regimens that he insists on imposing on her as well. It's a story of vengeance for sure, and there must be many identifiable characters aside from her and Lowell - but none of whom I'd like to meet.