The Fire and the rose

The birth centenary of T.S. Eliot provided an excellent opportunity to scholars for a reassessment of the life and work of the pioneer of modernism in literature. The essays collected here derive from a seminar held at the University of Delhi in December 1988 at which leading Eliot specialists from West and East joined hands in order to appreciate the complex nature of the achievement of the great poet-critic of our century. Eloise Hay explores in her essay the dual nature of Eliot's allegiance to the American and British traditions. A.D. Moody and Harish Trivedi explore the ambivalent nature of Eliot's relationship to Indic thought and sources. There are several essays which deal with Eliot's crowning poetic achievement, Four Quartets. John Holloway looks at the manner in which Beethoven's later music inspired the form of these poems; R.A. Malagi pursues their relationship to Dante; Vinod Sena discusses their use of themes and motifs from the Bhagavad Gita; while John Kwan-Terry looks at the vision of history which they project. Manju Jain's essay deals with Eliot's early fascination for, and criticism of, the English philosopher, F.H. Bradley; while Ronald Bush draws timely attention to an important early essay of the poet's. Max Nanny focuses on the use of visual form in Eliot's poetry, B. Rajan on his poetic language, and S. Nagarajan examines Eliot's continuing preoccupation with the relationship of belief to poetry. All In all, this volume provides a fascinating study of Eliot's poetry and thought by some of the finest scholars of our time.