The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot [Paperback]

An essential introduction and handbook for students and other readers of T. S. Eliot.An international team of leading T.S. Eliot scholars contributes studies of different facets of the writer's work. Five chapters provide a complete account of Eliot's poems and plays, while others assess the major aspects of his life and thought in historical perspective.An international team of leading T.S. Eliot scholars contributes studies of different facets of the writer's work. Five chapters provide a complete account of Eliot's poems and plays, while others assess the major aspects of his life and thought in historical perspective.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.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 alÓe