T. S. Eliot and the Concept of Tradition

A 2007 reappraisal of the afterlife of Eliot's reformulation of the idea of literary tradition.

Giovanni Cianci (Edited by), Jason Harding (Edited by)

9780521880022, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 September 2007

246 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.53 kg

'T. S. Eliot and the Concept of Tradition is an excellent addition to the library of a student or scholar interested in the continuing influence and legacy of Eliot's most famous essay. It is a diverse, provocative, thoughtful, and well-organized collection.' Time Present

T. S. Eliot's reformulation of the idea of literary tradition has been one of the key critical concepts of the twentieth century. In this reappraisal of tradition, an international team of scholars explores the concept from a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives, including a series of illuminating case studies evaluating Eliot's version of tradition alongside the theories of other major twentieth-century critics. This 2007 volume will be of great interest to students of literary theory, modernist studies and intellectual history, initiating a dialogue between Continental and Anglo-American investigations into the nature of literary traditions. Tradition is a concept often viewed by contemporary critics with misunderstanding or even hostility. This book powerfully reaffirms the continuing importance of our artistic and cultural traditions in shaping the past and creating the future.

Foreword Sir Frank Kermode
Introduction Giovanni Cianci and Jason Harding
Part I. Tradition and Impersonality: 1. Exorcising the demon of chronology: T. S. Eliot's reinvention of tradition Aleida Assmann
2. Proper frontiers: transgression and the individual talent Stan Smith
3. Writing the self: dialectic and impersonality in T. S. Eliot Jewel Spears Brooker
4. The later fortunes of impersonality: 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' and post-war poetry Clive Wilmer
Part II. Contexts - Literary: 5. French influences and echoes in 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' Bernard Brugiere
6. Tradition and egoism: T. S. Eliot and The Egoist Jason Harding
7. Tradition in 1919: Pound, Eliot and the 'historical method' Massimo Bacigalupo
Part III. Contexts - Art and Anthropology: 8. Reading T. S. Eliot visually: tradition in the context of modernist art Giovanni Cianci
9. Some art historical contexts for 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' Michael Hollington
10. 'A living whole': from T. S. Eliot's tradition to Hans Blumenberg's work on myth Claudia Corti
11. Whose tradition?: T. S. Eliot and the text of anthropology Caroline Patey
Part IV. Case Studies: 12. Duchamp's Eliot: the detours of tradition and the persistence of individual talent Marjorie Perloff
13. Tradition and the march of literature: T. S. Eliot and Ford Madox Ford Max Saunders
14. At the frontiers of metaphysics: time and history in T. S. Eliot and Walter Benjamin Brett Neilson
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH]