“Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land

This paper explores the concept of reaction in relation to T.S. Eliot’s poetry, unfolding its various implications as psychological motivation, temporal perception and political vision. It considers the possible relevance such factors might have had on the composition of The Waste Land. It first rev...

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Main Author: Philippe Birgy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2019-05-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10944
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author Philippe Birgy
author_facet Philippe Birgy
author_sort Philippe Birgy
collection DOAJ
description This paper explores the concept of reaction in relation to T.S. Eliot’s poetry, unfolding its various implications as psychological motivation, temporal perception and political vision. It considers the possible relevance such factors might have had on the composition of The Waste Land. It first reviews the state of the art and recasts the different critical positions in a historical and cultural perspective, then reflects on what passes off as the fundamental rift between the commentators of Eliot, depending on whether they prescribe a close stylistic scrutiny of Eliot’s poem or a general contextualisation as the premise of their literary assessment. On the face of it, the dispute revolves around the question of the author’s responsibility and accountability for his work and the positions held by the contestants are liable to become entrenched, sometimes to the point of preventing the actual confrontation of critical insights.Our contention will be that a simplification or standardization of the term “reaction” often obscures the fact that modernism is not simply contested or “in debate” but that modernism is the debate itself—in other words, that modernism is constitutively and structurally problematic. Modernism as manifested or endorsed by Eliot in the form of a writing programme consists precisely in that exposure to the conflict inherent in poetic practice, in the direct confrontation to insoluble dilemmas. These tensions, I argue, are located in the text itself and account for the strange thrust of its poetic move that withdraws instantly what it has just pushed forward.
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spelling doaj-art-29ff5b3a97e74e77b00ade29dc9d9b8e2025-01-30T10:43:41ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662019-05-01210.4000/transatlantica.10944“Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste LandPhilippe BirgyThis paper explores the concept of reaction in relation to T.S. Eliot’s poetry, unfolding its various implications as psychological motivation, temporal perception and political vision. It considers the possible relevance such factors might have had on the composition of The Waste Land. It first reviews the state of the art and recasts the different critical positions in a historical and cultural perspective, then reflects on what passes off as the fundamental rift between the commentators of Eliot, depending on whether they prescribe a close stylistic scrutiny of Eliot’s poem or a general contextualisation as the premise of their literary assessment. On the face of it, the dispute revolves around the question of the author’s responsibility and accountability for his work and the positions held by the contestants are liable to become entrenched, sometimes to the point of preventing the actual confrontation of critical insights.Our contention will be that a simplification or standardization of the term “reaction” often obscures the fact that modernism is not simply contested or “in debate” but that modernism is the debate itself—in other words, that modernism is constitutively and structurally problematic. Modernism as manifested or endorsed by Eliot in the form of a writing programme consists precisely in that exposure to the conflict inherent in poetic practice, in the direct confrontation to insoluble dilemmas. These tensions, I argue, are located in the text itself and account for the strange thrust of its poetic move that withdraws instantly what it has just pushed forward.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10944memorynostalgiarepetitionmodernismT.S. Eliotreaction
spellingShingle Philippe Birgy
“Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
Transatlantica
memory
nostalgia
repetition
modernism
T.S. Eliot
reaction
title “Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
title_full “Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
title_fullStr “Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
title_full_unstemmed “Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
title_short “Memory and Desire”: T.S. Eliot, Reaction, Nostalgia, and Poetic Reserve in The Waste Land
title_sort memory and desire t s eliot reaction nostalgia and poetic reserve in the waste land
topic memory
nostalgia
repetition
modernism
T.S. Eliot
reaction
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10944
work_keys_str_mv AT philippebirgy memoryanddesiretseliotreactionnostalgiaandpoeticreserveinthewasteland