The Waste Land
A Biography of a Poem
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
A New Statesman, Financial Times, Observer, and Sunday Times Book of the Year
“[An] impressive examination of artistic creation.”—Alex Clark, Guardian
A riveting account of the making of T. S. Eliot’s celebrated poem The Waste Land on its centenary.
Renowned as one of the world’s greatest poems, The Waste Land has been said to describe the moral decay of a world after war and the search for meaning in a meaningless era. It has been labeled the most truthful poem of its time; it has been branded a masterful fake. A century after its publication in 1922, T. S. Eliot’s enigmatic masterpiece remains one of the most influential works ever written, and yet one of the most mysterious.
In a remarkable feat of biography, Matthew Hollis reconstructs the intellectual creation of the poem and brings the material reality of its charged times vividly to life. Presenting a mosaic of historical fragments, diaries, dynamic literary criticism, and illuminating new research, he reveals the cultural and personal trauma that forged The Waste Land through the lives of its protagonists—of Ezra Pound, who edited it; of Vivien Eliot, who sustained it; and of T. S. Eliot himself, whose private torment is woven into the seams of the work. The result is an unforgettable story of lives passing in opposing directions and the astounding literary legacy they would leave behind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Honoring the centenary of T.S. Eliot's modernist masterpiece, biographer Hollis (Now All Roads Lead to France) offers an illuminating account of the making of The Waste Land. Searching out the pieces "of the jigsaw puzzle that would become The Waste Land," Hollis blends rich characterization and historical background to create a vivid picture of the London literary scene from the end of WWI to 1922 that takes in the writers, journals, and publishers that influenced Eliot's work. Hollis allots great attention to Ezra Pound, who, he argues, is essential in a consideration of Eliot, as the "confluence that existed between the minds of the two poets" was central to Eliot's work. Hollis also traces Pound's influence in several of Eliot's poems and examines in detail how The Waste Land was shaped by Pound's editorial eye and "perceptive... direction." The book gains traction when Eliot gets to the actual writing of the poem, as Hollis describes the laborious early drafts and deleted lines, as well as the sections he completed "almost whole, with barely any correction." Hollis's sharp prose sings and is poetic in its own right, and images of typeset pages and manuscripts in Eliot's handwriting help bring the work to life. This fascinating and brilliantly researched history will delight Eliot's fans.
