The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

An international team of leading T.S. Eliot scholars contribute studies of different facets of the writer's work to build up a carefully coordinated and fully rounded introduction. Five chapters give a complete account of Eliot's poems and plays, while others assess the major aspects of his life and thought. Later chapters place his work in historical perspective. There is a full review of Eliot studies, and a useful chronological outline. Taken as a whole, this Companion comprises an essential handbook for students and readers of T.S. Eliot. Cover......Page 1 The Cambridge Companion to T S. Eliot......Page 2 Contents......Page 8 List of contributors......Page 9 Preface......Page 14 Chronology of Eliot's life and works......Page 15 List of abbreviations......Page 18 1 Where is the real T. S. Eliot? or, The Life of the Poet......Page 22 2 Eliot as a product of America......Page 35 3 Eliot as philosopher......Page 52 4 T. S. Eliot's critical program......Page 69 5 The social critic and his discontents......Page 81 6 Religion, literature, and society in the work of T. S. Eliot......Page 98 7 "England and nowhere"......Page 115 8 Early poems: from "Prufrock" to "Gerontion"......Page 129 9 Improper desire: reading The Waste Land......Page 142 10 Ash-Wednesday: a poetry of verification......Page 153 11 Four Quartets: music, word, meaning and value......Page 163 12 Pereira and after: the cures of Eliot's theater......Page 179 13 "Mature poets steal": Eliot's allusive practice......Page 197 14 Eliot's impact on twentieth-century Anglo-American poetry......Page 210 15 Tradition and T. S. Eliot......Page 231 16 Eliot: Modernism, Postmodernism, and after......Page 244 17 Eliot studies: a review and a select booklist......Page 257 A SELECT BOOKLIST......Page 268 Index......Page 272 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 An essential introduction and handbook for students and other readers of T.S. Eliot.