T. S. Eliot and the Ideology of Four Quartets

Klappentext Recent criticism of Eliot has ignored the public dimension of his life and work. His poetry is often seen as the private record of an internal spiritual struggle. Professor Cooper shows how Eliot deliberately addressed a North Atlantic 'mandarinate' fearful of social disintegration during the politically turbulent 1930s. Almost immediately following publication, Four Quartets was accorded canonic status as a work that promised a personal harmony divorced from the disharmonies of the emerging postwar world. Cooper connects Eliot's careers as banker, director and editor to a much wider cultural agenda. He aimed to reinforce established social structures during a period of painful political transition. This powerful and original study re-establishes the public context in which Eliot's work was received and understood. Zusammenfassung Criticism of Eliot interprets his work as the private record of an internal spiritual struggle. Professor Cooper re-establishes the public dimension Eliot intended for his poetry. Eliot aimed to reinforce established social structures during a period of painful political transition. This study offers a reinterpretation of Eliot! his work and of Anglo-American relations. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Ash-Wednesday and the transition to the late candour; 2. Provisional delusions: crisis among the mandarins; 3. The society of the mandarin verse play; 4. Representing Four Quartets: the canonizers at work; 5. Four Quartets: the poem proper i. Burnt children ii. Rehearsing renunciation iii. Escape from history; 6. White mythology: the comedy of manners in Natopolis; Notes; Index.

Product details

• Authors: John Xiros Cooper, John Xiros (University of British Columbia Cooper, Cooper John Xiros, John Xiros Cooper
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.12.1995
• EAN: 9780521496292
• ISBN: 978-0-521-49629-2
• No. of pages: 252
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; English, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: poetry and poets