T. S. Eliot and the Concept of Tradition

T. S. Eliot's reformulation of the idea of literary tradition has been one of the key critical concepts of the twentieth century. In this first book-length reappraisal of tradition, an international team of scholars explores the concept from a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives, including a series of illuminating case studies evaluating Eliot's version of tradition alongside the theories of other major twentieth-century critics. This volume will be of great interest to students of literary theory, modernist studies and intellectual history, initiating a dialogue between Continental and Anglo-American investigations into the nature of literary traditions. Tradition is a concept often viewed by contemporary critics with misunderstanding or even hostility. This book powerfully reaffirms the continuing importance of our artistic and cultural traditions in shaping the past and creating the future.

Foreword Sir Frank Kermode; Introduction Giovanni Cianci and Jason Harding; Part I. Tradition and Impersonality: 1. Exorcising the demon of chronology: T. S. Eliot's reinvention of tradition Aleida Assmann; 2. Proper frontiers: transgression and the individual talent Stan Smith; 3. Writing the self: dialectic and impersonality in T. S. Eliot Jewel Spears Brooker; 4. The later fortunes of impersonality: 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' and post-war poetry Clive Wilmer; Part II. Contexts - Literary: 5. French influences and echoes in 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' Bernard Brugiere; 6. Tradition and egoism: T. S. Eliot and The Egoist Jason Harding; 7. Tradition in 1919: Pound, Eliot and the 'historical method' Massimo Bacigalupo; Part III. Contexts - Art and Anthropology: 8. Reading T. S. Eliot visually: tradition in the context of modernist art Giovanni Cianci; 9. Some art historical contexts for 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' Michael Hollington; 10. 'A living whole': from T. S. Eliot's tradition to Hans Blumenberg's work on myth Claudia Corti; 11. Whose tradition?: T. S. Eliot and the text of anthropology Caroline Patey; Part IV. Case Studies: 12. Duchamp's Eliot: the detours of tradition and the persistence of individual talent Marjorie Perloff; 13. Tradition and the march of literature: T. S. Eliot and Ford Madox Ford Max Saunders; 14. At the frontiers of metaphysics: time and history in T. S. Eliot and Walter Benjamin Brett Neilson; Select bibliography; Index.

T. S. Eliot's reformulation of the idea of literary tradition has been one of the key critical concepts of the twentieth century. This 2007 reappraisal of tradition by an international team of scholars will be of great interest to students of literary theory, modernist studies and intellectual history.