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Waste Land born by "Caesarian Operation", and mystery solved Mar 3, 1999 (44 of 46 found this helpful)
Valerie Eliot's publication of her late husband's Waste Land manuscripts affords the reader an opportunity to delve beneath the mysteries surrounding this truly remarkable poem. Hailed as the "greatest poem of the 20th century", a masterpiece which "captured the disillusionment of a generation"; indeed, as the "justification" of Ezra Pound's modernist "experiment", yet referred to by Eliot, himself, as "just a piece of rythmical grumbling", the Waste Land is sure to spark off in any reader a burning desire to know more than Eliot's powerful words can ever themselves explain.
Written primarily during a "rest cure" on "Margate Sands" ("I can connect Nothing with Nothing") and Laussanne, Switzerland; following what Eliot's London doctor diagnosed as a "nervous breakdown", but which the poet refferred to in his letters as an "aboulie", or state of "emotional derangement"; it is little wonder that the poem is not an easy one to come to grips with. In the years following it's publication, countless readers and critics, following the "clues" left by the poet in his now infamous "Notes", have charged off in pursuit of answers and meanings in places they shall never be found. Eliot later explained to his friend, Pound, on whom the poet had bestowed the task (or honour, in this critic's opinion) of editing his original manuscript - that his "Notes" had done little more than lead his readers on a wild goosechase after holy grails and other crazy things which had little bearing on the poem itself. The fact that Pound, the editor, chose, and was permitted by the author, to slash out over half of the original Waste Land fragments in an operation which he described as the "Caesarian Operation" speaks volumes for itself. For it was in this operation that Pound's theories on Vortisism and Imagisme, and Eliot's own theories on poetic "impersonality" and committment to the "Great Tradition" were fused. The result - the final masterwork, the "cult" poem we know today. In the manuscript publication, the missing pieces to Eliot's inticate puzzle are at last to be found .If you are an Eliot fan, or have any interest whatsoever in the Modernist movement, or the inner workings of a creative genius' mind - this book is an absolute MUST !
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All this crayon... May 29, 2008 (5 of 5 found this helpful)
'The Waste Land' is widely viewed as the twentieth century's most important English language poem, so it's no surprise that 'The Waste Land' manuscripts are some of the most fussed-about pieces of artistic construction in modern times. The poem is a short but dizzying string of images that needs every bit of clarification available.
'The Waste Land' manuscripts, which consist of fifty-four leaves, three hotel receipts, and a mailing label, were sold by T. S. Eliot to John Quinn, a New York attorney who served as his agent, in 1923. Quinn died the following year and Eliot's manuscripts were inherited by Julia Quinn Anderson, his sister. Mrs. Anderson died in 1934, after which the manuscripts were put in storage. Her daughter, Mary Anderson Conroy, recovered them and made a final sale in 1958 to the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library, where they currently reside. Eliot never knew about the sale and his estate was not informed until 1968, upon publication of a Quinn biography by Professor B. L. Reid.
'The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript' is largely a collaboration between Valerie Eliot, T. S. Eliot's second wife, and poet Ezra Pound, who is credited with massaging 'The Waste Land' into its published form. Using the original manuscripts, correspondence, and research on literary workings of the poem, Mrs. Eliot and Mr. Pound have done much to elucidate where The Waste Land's ideas originally came from and how its manuscripts created issues over the poem's 'official' appearance.
The book, first published as a large-size hardcover by Harcourt Brace & Company in 1971, gives itself little fanfare and dives right into the poem's lengthy history. Pound chimes in with a short preface that acknowledges Mrs. Eliot's devotion, followed by a twenty-page introduction that charts the events in Eliot's personal and creative lives from 1915 to 1924. Mrs. Eliot bases the introduction primarily on letters written between Eliot, his family, Pound, and Quinn. It is soundly arranged, listing every step towards making 'The Waste Land' a published item.
The manuscript's fifty-four leaves are offered in facsimile, with each page transcripted to its right. The transcriptions reflect any changes or notations made by Eliot, Pound, and Eliot's first wife, Vivienne, who provided feedback intermittently. Pound's corrections are transcripted in red ink, Vivienne Eliot's in black ink with dotted lines. The leaves are arranged in sections corresponding to those of the final poem. Remarkable is how much verse was left on the cutting floor: 'The Burial of the Dead' stems from a long narrative poem, the infamous 'He Do the Police in Different Voices.' Its entire first part, a trite urban episode, went completely unused. The tiny section 'Death by Water' originated from a narrative of sea fishers, running over four hand-written pages.
To clarify ambiguous information such as titles, literary references, and Pound's codified markings, Mrs. Eliot has supplied editorial notes that are located after the facsimiles. The book's remaining pages contain 'The Waste Land' as published by Boni and Liveright in 1922, including Eliot's after-the-fact notes that were used as a critical reference for years, but which Eliot later called 'bogus scholarship.' These notes were originally written by Eliot to point out various sources, but he later expanded them needlessly to fill blank pages resulting from the poem's appearance as a book.
Mrs. Eliot's volume is highly informative and well-organized. It does much to elucidate the poem's inner workings and we learn a great deal about Eliot personally, something that he largely considered taboo. We see clearly how the poem took shape, with much-needed help from Pound and Vivienne Eliot. There are no longer any mysteries about how Eliot could piece together such contradictory material; whatever material did not reac
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An Indispensable Resource Jul 15, 2007 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
For any scholar or serious student of modernism, Valerie Eliot's facsimile edition is a must. The content enables us to reconsider notions of "high modernism," Eliot's seemingly dry approach to life and literature (if anyone trusts such satirical jabs as 'The Sweeniad'), and the relationship between Pound and Eliot--even as it occurs in Pound's own pen on Eliot's manuscript. The several additional voices included in Eliot's original vision, particularly in his intended first stanza of what was to be titled, "He do the Police in Different Voices: Part I," gives contemporary audiences a new take on Eliot's sense of humor and full conception of the modern consciousness.
Not only does the edition provide the original manuscript on the left page (both typed and handwritten), but also a surprisingly useful retyped version on the facing page to make clear what has been written in the margins by Eliot, Pound, or any other editorial hand. These facing-page clarifications are color-coded to clarify who has done the editing (i.e., red for Pound).
If you are fascinated by historical documents, serious about Modernism and the relationships therein, or simply a fan of what has been called the landmark poem of the literary period that arguably still defines our lives today, the Waste Land Facsimile Edition is indispensable.
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Wonderful! Nov 11, 2006
This edition illuminates the poetic creative process for this great poem in wonderful ways. It is a must for all who love the poem (like I do), or just find it intriguing.
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Brian Solomons May 7, 2007
It's wonderful to read the Waste Land as it was originally conceived by TS Eliot and to realise that Ezra Pound's editing totally transforms the book from a rather pedestrian work into the great poem of the 20th century. Looking at this book, Ezra Pound should have at leat 30% of the credit for this work!