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 canonical status as a work that promised a personal harmony divorced from the painful 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. It will become an essential reference work for all interested in a wider understanding of Eliot and of Anglo-American cultural relations.
| ISBN: | 9780521060912 |
| Publication date: | 24th April 2008 |
| Author: | John Xiros University of British Columbia, Vancouver Cooper |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 252 pages |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: poetry and poets Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 |