The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot

An essential introduction and handbook for students and other readers of T. S. Eliot.

A. David Moody (Edited by)

9780521421270, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 November 1994

280 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 2.6 cm, 0.45 kg

In this Companion, an international team of leading T. S. Eliot scholars contribute studies of different facets of the writer's work to build up a carefully co-ordinated and fully rounded introduction. Five chapters give a complete account of Eliot's poems and plays from several distinct points of view. The major aspects and issues of his life and thought are assessed: his American origins and his becoming English; his position as a philosopher; his literary, social, and political criticism; and the evolution of his religious sense. Later chapters place his work in a number of historical perspectives; and the final chapter provides an expert review of the whole field of Eliot studies and is supplemented by a listing of the most significant publications. There is a useful chronological outline. Taken as a whole, the Companion comprises an essential handbook for students and other readers of Eliot.

List of contributors
Preface
Chronology of Eliot's life and works
Abbreviations
1. Where is the real T. S. Eliot? or the life of the poet James Olney
2. Eliot as a product of America Eric Sigg
3. Eliot as philosopher Richard Shusterman
4. T. S. Eliot's critical programme Timothy Matherer
5. The social critic and his discontents Peter Dale Scott
6. Religion, literature and society in the work of T. S. Eliot Cleo McNelly Kearns
7. 'England and nowhere' Alan Marshall
8. Early poems: from Prufrock to 'Gerontion' J. C. Mays
9. Improper desire: reading The Waste Land Harriet Davidson
10. Ash-Wednesday: a poetry of verification John Kwan-Terry
11. Four Quartets: music word meaning and value A. David Moody
12. Pereira and after: the cures of Eliot's theatre Robin Grove
13. 'Mature poets steal': Eliot's allusive practice James Longenbach
14. Eliot's impact on Anglo-American poetry Charles Altieri
15. Tradition and T. S. Eliot Jean-Michel Rabaté
16. Eliot: modernism, postmodernism and after Bernard Sharratt
17. Eliot studies: a review and a select booklist Jewel Spears Brooker
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC]