Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot

by T.S. Eliot

Book Overview

The Selected Prose of T. S. Eliot, edited by Professor Frank Kermode, gathers work from Eliot's unrivalled career as a literary and social critic. These thirty-one essays-categorized as "essays in generalization," "appreciations of individual authors," and "social and religious criticism" were written over the course of a half century, and include his most famous essays to lesser known works from before 1918. This volume reveals Eliot's original...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156806541
• ISBN13: 9780156806541
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

T.S. Elliot

Wonderful book, a treasure; it arrived quickly and in beautiful shape. I highly recommend this book.

Ascerbic, crisp and correct-- brilliant essays.

An excellent selection of essays by Eliot. He is at his best in many of these-- ascerbic, crisp and correct. I am constantly amazed by the number of people who have opinions about the ideas and theories of Eliot, but who have never read his essays themselves. I suggest that before taking umbrage at what he is supposed to have said, a student of the modernists should at least read a bit of what he did say. This selection is broken into two categories: Literary Criticism and Social and Religious Criticism. Essays such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "What is a Classic?" (compare and contrast with G. Stein in "What are Masterpieces?") are particularly worth the time to read. I wish that Kermode had included more of the social and religious essays and that he had not excerpted as heavily as he did throughout the book. I would personally rather read a longer book consisting of complete essays than having such a high percentage of the selection consisting of excerpts. Of the meagre three essays in the social and religious section, two were excerpted rather than being published in their entirety. Too bad.

What criticism should be.

Eliot's reputation has taken a beating in the last 20 years. He has been charged with anti-semitism, racism, elitism, and even misogyny. All of these charges are basically true. Nevertheless, as a critic his judgements are sound and dead-on. Read either "Traditon and the individual Talent" or "Dante" from this book and tell me if you think I am wrong. The book is worth the price for these two essays alone.

Worthy collection

I found this book to be a useful compendium of essays that are usually scattered or incompletely represented in anthologies. It's an excellent supplement for a course on Eliot's work or to learn more about his critical perspectives and how they shifted over time. Very worthwhile.

prose from a great literary figure

A good selection of prose from T. S. Eliot. After years of reading, I still find his prose more effective and more useful than his poetry. (I know -- sheer heresy.) Eliot places great emphasis on The Tradition and on an impersonal approach to art, an emphasis which aspiring writers of today would be wise to heed. Like Matthew Arnold, Eliot's criticism is dogmatic, and right. The reader's only wish is that this collection included more.