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Proquest Dissertations Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University College, University of London September 1992 T.S. ELIOT AND THE JEWS A STUDY IN ANTI-SEMITISM AND LITERARY FORM ANTHONY JULIUS ProQuest Number: 10046071 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10046071 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Eliot wrote some diversely anti-Semitic poems. They are offensive. In his work, Jews tend to be contemptible rather than frightening. Its anti-Semitism is neither marginal nor especially typical of its time. It is not analogous to misogyny (chapter 1). For certain reasons, Jewish critics have been reluctant to acknowledge Eliot's anti-Semitism. "Gerontion"'s anti-Semitism, and its relation to the form of the dramatic monologue, may be explored by reference to Genesis 22 and Browning. "A Song for Simeon” consummates Eliot's anti- Semitism by placing Jews entirely within the Christian story (chapter 2). The belief that poetry, or good poetry, does not make statements supports the view that Eliot's poetry is not anti-Semitic. "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" proves that this view is false. Anyway, anti-Semitism itself is not wholly propositional. It is compatible with a Symbolist imagination. In Eliot's case, as "Burbank" demonstrates, it is evidence of such an imagination in crisis (chapter 3). Eliot's anti-Semitic poems are ugly, the principal fruits of his "contemplation of the horrid or sordid or disgusting" (The Sacred Wood). "Gerontion" and "Dirge" exemplify this anti-aesthetic of ugliness. Eliot's poetry exploits anti-Semitism to literary effect; his prose does not. For example, anti-Semitism blinded Eliot to Jewish suffering in Nazi Germany (chapter 4). Eliot's anti-Semitic prose makes the "free-thinking Jew" the target. (This contrasts with the myopic, insensate philistinism of the Jews in the poems). Neither Freud nor Benda nor even Spinoza escape Eliot's scorn. In After Strange Gods the "free-thinking Jew" is the figure of that text's instability (chapter 5). Both the literary and the extra-literary evidence that Eliot regretted his work's anti-Semitism is ambiguous. There are reasons why it may have been difficult for Eliot to repudiate it (chapter 6). CONTENTS References, footnotes and abbreviations v Acknowledgments vii Chapter one: Introduction Preliminary 1 Eliot's literary career 3 Portrait of an anti-Semite 12 a. National contexts 13 b. A literary anti-Semitism 17 c. An anti-Semitism of contempt 20 d. An anti-Semitism distinct from misogyny 22 Eliot's anti-Semitism and the anti-Semitism of his times (and ours) 29 Chapter two: "Gerontion", criticism, and the limits of the dramatic monologue "Gerontion" (1) 37 Some Jewish critics 41 "Gerontion" (2) 51 The binding of Isaac and the dramatic monologue 57 "Gerontion" (3) 68 Chapter three: "Sweeney among the Nightingales", "Burbank", and the poetics of anti-Semitism Preliminary 72 Poetry and the propositional 74 Anti-Semitism and the non-propositional 95 Chapter four: "Dirge", and the aesthetics of the ugly Ugly poetry 113 Ugly prose 150 Chapter five: Free-thinking Jews, and the anti-Semitism of Eliot's prose Free-thinking Jews (1) 158 After Strange Gods 166 Free-thinking Jews (2) 172 After Strange Gods (2) 180 Chapter six: Making amends, making amendments Introduction 193 Repenting anti-Semitism: some examples 195 Making amendments 208 The Rock and "Little Gidding" 217 Denials and evasions a. The Healy correspondence 227 b. The "Christian News-Letter" article 230 c. The Bollingen award 232 d. The Brinnin letter 235 e. The "TLS" correspondence 237 f. Christianity and anti-Semitism 241 Insensitivities 243 Conclusion 247 Bibliography 251 REFERENCES, FOOTNOTES, AND ABBREVIATIONS Other than in the case of works by Eliot, bibliographic references in the body of the thesis will be given in abbreviated form, identifying only the author and the year of publication; title, publisher, and place of publication, appear in the bibliography. Where more than one work of an author published in one year is cited, the given year will be followed by a capital letter indicating the work by reference to its place in the bibliography. For example, "X 1975 A" will refer to the first work listed in the bibliography written by X published in 1975. Where a work's original date of publication is relevant to my argument, I give that date in square brackets if it differs from the date of the edition I have used (e.g., "Riding and Graves [1928] 1969"). A number of separate references sometimes will be collected in a single footnote at the end of a paragraph, or at the end of the last quotation in that paragraph, in order to avoid unnecessary interruptions in the text. In certain cases, where quotations are given as instances of a particular anti-Semitic theme, and the sources for those quotations are not the works of which they are part, then those sources, and not the works themselves, will be identified. For example, Leon Poliakov's History of Anti-Semitism l-iV contains numerous quotations on which I draw from time to time in the thesis. In such cases, each reference will be limited to the relevant volume and page of Poliakov's work. All quotations from Eliot's poetry are taken from The Collected Poems and Plays o f T.S. EHot unless otherwise stated. Works by Eliot, and certain periodicals, have been abbreviated in the thesis as follows: ASG T.S. Eliot After Strange Gods C "The Criterion", "The Monthly Criterion" and "The New Criterion" OR "The Cambridge Review" CNL "Christian News-Letter" D "The Dial" E "The Egoist" FLA T.S. Eliot For Lancelot Andrewes: Essays on Style and Order ICS T.S. Eliot The Idea of a Christian Society and Other Writings K T.S. Eliot, ed., A Choice o f Kipling's Verse KE T.S. Eliot Knowledge and Experience in the Phliosophy o f F.H. Bradiey L "The Listener" LR "The Little Review" LTSE Valerie Eliot, ed., The Letters of T.S. EHot i NEW "The New English Weekly" NTDC T.S. Eliot Notes towards the Definition of Culture OPP T.S. Eliot On Poetry and Poets PR "Partisan Review" S T.S. Eliot A Sermon preached in Magdalene College Chapel SE T.S. Eliot Selected Essays SR "The Sewanee Review" SW T.S. Eliot The Sacred Wood T&T "Time and Tide" TCC T.S. Eliot To Criticise the Critic TLS "The Times Literary Supplement" UPUC T.S. Eliot The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism WLFT Valerie Eliot, ed.. The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript V! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to my supervisor, Professor Dan Jacobson, for his encouragement and guidance. I am in his debt. I am also grateful to the following, all of whom helped me in one way or another: Fran Amas, Karen Benson, Barbara Cohen, David Cohen, Ed Copeland, Stephen Davis, John Gross, Rowena Herdman- Smith, Geoffrey Hines, Mark Julius, Marshall Julius, Julie Killip, Isaac Kramnick, Katrina Nolan, David Pannick, Alex Perkins, Karen Sanig, Adam Strevens. Peter Lighte commented on two drafts of chapter 1. Rabbi Levi Sudak advised me on the point of Jewish law discussed in chapter 5. My thanks to them too. Judith Julius read successive drafts and made numerous helpful suggestions. Without her support, my plans for a study of Eliot's anti-Semitism would not have come to anything. vu ... it needs literary criticism to do justice to Eliot. F.R. Leavis "Eliot's Classical Standing", Lectures in America 52. In Cape Town [Eliot] was entertained by Mr. Justice Millin and his wife, Sarah Gertrude Millin, the novelist and biographer, whose books were published by Eliot's firm. [...] That night before going to bed Mrs. Millin was brushing up her acquaintance with Eliot's verse ... when her eye fell on "Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar", and particularly these lines: The rats are underneath the piles. The jew is underneath the lot. Mrs. Millin was a Jew. She went and rapped on Eliot's door, asked whether he acknowledged these lines (he did) and then asked him to leave her house next morning. T.S. Matthews Great Tom: Notes Towards the Definition o f T.S. EHot 163. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Preliminary Not all anti-Semites are the same. Some break Jewish bones, others insult Jewish sensibilities. Eliot falls into the second category. He was civil to Jews he knew, offensive to those who merely knew him through his work. He wounded his Jewish readers, if not the Jews of his acquaintance, to whom, indeed, he was "not disagreeable"\ Though worth noting, this is not a distinction that can yield a defence to the charge of anti-Semitism. If the work, or some notable part of it, is anti- Semitic, it is the work of an anti-Semite. No Jew reading the following is likely to doubt its anti-Semitism: And the jew squats on the window sill, the owner. Spawned in some estaminet of Antwerp, Blistered in Brussels, patched and peeled in London. "You called me a name", protests a Jewish poet to Eliot^.
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