Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2022 Issue

T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"At 100

- by Maureen E. Mulvihill, Guest Writer

T.S. Eliot, Portrait Photo Hulton-Deutsch Collection, via Getty Images.

We musn't be surprised that the first review of Eliot's poem was damning. The redoubtable F.L. Lucas ridiculed the work as a trite academic pastiche of allusions and pretentious philosophical mumbo-jumbo (3 Nov. 1923, The New Statesman, London). Yet the poem was soon hailed as the signature of the new experimental Modernist movement. No other poem of its day did what Eliot's 434 lines achieved. Yes, it is an unsparing depiction of the deep disorder and despair following World War I, but the poem bravely comes full circle with advice for a way forward. One hundred years on, Eliot's words still resound. Let's take a look: <visit here>.

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Posted On: 2022-11-01 09:13
User Name: jimmccue

TSE to Ezra Pound, 30 Aug 1922: “not ‘Waste Land’, please, but ‘The Waste Land’”. To Lucille Goldthwaite, Librarian for the Blind at the New York Public Library, 16 Apr 1931: “I shall be very glad to give you the permission for which you ask in your letter, so long as you will see that not only the text itself, but the title, is correctly transcribed, as I note that it is incorrectly given in your letter.” To his Spanish translator Angel Flores, 22 Feb 1928: “The title, by the way, is not ‘The Wasteland’ but ‘The Waste Land’. TSE pronounced the title with the emphasis on the third word, as did Valerie Eliot. Recordings by TSE’s contemporaries also emphasise the third word."
The Poems, I 589.

Posted On: 2022-11-01 21:28
User Name: mairin111

Posting for Sean O'S., Cambridge:
Beautiful tribute to Eliot and his great poem. Thanks to Rare Book Hub and especially the writer of this article; I appreciated very much her translation of "fabbro" in Eliot's dedication to Pound: yes, a superior "artisan", as she says -- that was good attention to detail. A most useful resource piece, admired the images & close caption notes. Sean O'S., Cambridge.

Posted On: 2022-11-02 01:36
User Name: mairin111

Our thanks to "jimmccue" for correction of "Wasteland";
that was promptly adjusted today to "Waste Land" --
an 11th-hour oversight. MEM.

Nov. 1, 2022
____

Posted On: 2022-11-03 00:56
User Name: mairin111

Posting for Deirdre Lynch, Brooklyn.
An informative piece on Eliot, and I was always captivated by the resolution of his despair in that grim poem: he pivots not to Judeo-Christian traditions, but to Hindu / Buddhist contexts (those ancient sacred texts). He ends his poem on a note of calm: "Shantih", the peace which passes understanding. (Eliot had studied Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy at Harvard, as I recall). This artistic decision lends an exotic, erudite veneer to the poem. And it works, it still works: I like that advice. Thanks, Maureen, and come back to Brooklyn, you are dearly missed. Ever, D.

Posted On: 2022-11-03 03:31
User Name: mairin111

Posting On Behalf Of Dr C. Griffin, Poet, Brooklyn, NY
Maureen: I recently read that Pound’s edits reveal that Pound edited Eliot’s drafts -- some 800 typed lines, as you say -- not only for content, but also for musicality: the poem’s sonic sphere, its many sounds. No one whistles like Tom! Lovely work: responsible lovely work. And your Gallery truly makes the piece. Many thanks for getting this piece up. Mr Eliot Is Smiling. - C. Griffin, Brooklyn.

Posted On: 2022-11-10 01:17
User Name: mairin111

Posting for Rulon~Miller Books,
St Paul, MN.
Maureen, Nicely done! Rob,
Rulon~Miller Books
___

Posted On: 2022-11-10 01:25
User Name: mairin111

Posting for Daniel R. Harris / Brooklyn, NY & Sarasota, FL
OK, this piece looks good, but I always want the links to work;
at least the URLs are there. Your readers may be disappointed
that you don't directly engage with the text of Eliot's poem;
that's for another day, I suppose, and a big job.
Yet, a confident piece; much information shared. Yours, DRH.
___

Posted On: 2022-11-17 02:12
User Name: mairin111

Posting for Erika Gaffney, Founder & Creative Director, ART HERSTORY

"This wonderful essay, at the same time erudite and eminently readable. It addresses social, literary, and book historical contexts with elegance and panache.
Erika Gaffney, Art Herstory." //

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