| CODE | ENG5003 | ||||||
| TITLE | T.S. Eliot and Modernism | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | English | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | In 1891 Mallarmé told his interviewer for the newspaper L’Écho de Paris “we are witnessing a truly extraordinary spectacle.” This “extraordinary spectacle” turns out to be what Hardy calls “the ache of modernism.” The study-unit will review the affinities between theories and constructions of modernism and the work of T. S. Eliot, whose standing as a representative figure of the Modern is well documented. The first part will focus on the' language of ineffability' in The Four Quartets with reference to the influence of the Spanish mystics, and with what Eliot called “the deeper unnamed feelings which form the substratun of our beings.” Additionally, the Mallarméan influence on T. S. Eliot will be discussed, namely, Eliot’s interest in tradition and objectivity as emanating from his deep-rooted fascination for the French Symbolist poets, particularly Mallarmé. Themes discussed will be: dialectics of harmony in dissonance; speech in sound; for Mallarmé - the role of the poet as breaking the silence in language, for Eliot – the role of the poet as breaking language with silence. Both poets confer upon the contingency of circumstance a therapeutic semblance of formal and semantic pattern. Mallarmé’s modernist poetry attempts a translation of silence into words; Eliot’s modernism translates words into silence. Other themes addressed will include: Lack and fullness of perfection; A Renunciation of understanding; The sacred and the word. The old made new; Tradition as, not opposed to, innovation; The old needing the new for its regeneration, the new leaning on the old for its nurture and sustenance. Particular focus will be on: Breaking Silence: ‘La déclaration foraine’/’The Waste Land’; Creating Silence: ‘Le phénomène future’, ‘Un spectacle interrompu’/’Ash-Wednesday’; Reading Silence: ‘Crayonne au théâtre’/Ariel Poems; The Sound of Silence: Prose Poems/’Four Quartets’. Objective: This study-unit aims to help students appreciate the impact of T. S. Eliot on modernism; particular attention is paid to The Four Quartets and comparative concerns involving, among other writers, Mallarmé. Recommended Reading: - Brooker, J.S., Reading ‘The Waste Land’: Modernism and the Limits of Interpretation (University of Mass., Press, 1990) - Cohn, R.G., Mallarmé in the twentieth century (Associated University Presses Fairleigh Dickinson, 1998) - Davidson, S., On Tradition: Essays on the Use and Evaluation of the Past (AMS Press, 1992) - Goodheart, E., Modernism and the Critical Spirit (Transaction Publishers, 2000) - Korg, J., Ritual and Experience in Modern Poetry (Palgrave, 1995) - Lloyd, R., Mallarmé: The Poet and His Circle (Cornell University Press, 2005) - Malamud, R., Where the Words are Valid: T.S. Eliot’s Communities of Drama (Greenwood Press, 1995) - Mallarmé, S., Poems, trans., by Stephane Coffey (The Menard Press, 1990) Collected Poems and other Verse (Oxford University Press, 2005) - Marvick, L.W., Mallarmé and the Sublime (State University of New York Press, 1986) - Matthews, S., Modernism (Hodder Education Press, 2004) - Sartre, J.P., Mallarmé: Or the Poet of Nothingness (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991) - Williams, G.B., A Reason in a Storm: Study of the Use of Ambiguity in the writings of T.S. Eliot (University Press of America, 1991) |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Maria Frendo |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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