Memoir and Secondary Source Materials
In which I comment upon the cottage industry that is T.S. Eliot
The house that Eliot built is a monstrous mansion rather than a cottage industry. It’s only monstrous in size, as in monstrosity, but it’s made of the beautiful music of poetry. One would come to expect a mansion of this sort from a Nobel laureate.
During the centenary year (2022) of The Waste Land, that cottage industry churned out new works and critical appreciations of the poem at an enormous rate. In a previous post, “Memoir: The Anniversary Edition,” I provided a list of articles published in 2022:
But there are two large recent books, one of which I have and the other which I have yet to acquire, that I’m looking forward to devouring. These are large meals, however, and I will necessarily have to pace myself.
The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem, by Matthew Hollis, weighs in at 2 - 3 inches thick and 524 pages. (I have.)
The Hyacinth Girl: T.S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse, by Lyndall Gordon, 512 pages, 1.7 inches thick. Published on my birthday, Nov 8, 2022. (I covet.)
The flyleaf of Hollis’ book remarks:
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 astouding literary legacy they would leave behind.
It’s an enticing look at the creation of The Waste Land.
I note a similarity to my own writing. As I query my memoir, in this very newsletter I am writing not only about my story but about the creation of my memoir - the creative agency, the fragments, the lost pieces of time and memory that have come together with The Waste Land to create that which is new.
Lyndall Gordon’s book features over a thousand letters of correspondence between Eliot and Emily Hale. He was married twice, but during that time he continued to write to Emily. The write-up for Gordon’s book claims, “While married twice, Eliot had an almost lifelong love for Emily Hale, an American drama teacher to whom he wrote extensive, illuminating, deeply personal letters. She was the source of ‘memory and desire’ in The Waste Land. She was his hidden muse.”
Here’s another brick in the creation of Eliot’s world and his monumental masterpiece. I look forward to that literary excursion as well.
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mental illness - major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder, narcissitic personality disorder, suicide
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Thank you so much for reading and your continued support and for being here with me. The holidays are over, but the long, cold days of winter and reading and writing have just begun. Soon new life will push through the earth, green shoots of spring. Enjoy your indoor months with hot chocolate and tea, or hot beverage of choice.
Let me know what the coming months will bring to you. What are you reading now? What are you writing? What great adventures are brewing in your life?
As for me, I’ll . . .
Just keep writing!