T S Eliot And Mysticism

'At last, we have a study that tackles these questions, and does so with a wealth of learning, a poet's sensibility and a thorough theological literacy...Murray has given us a superb study.' Rowan Williams, Doctrine and Life 'His point of view is always that of someone practised in meditation, and his book is in consequence one of the half-dozen really valuable guides to Eliot's poetry.' Stephen Medcalf, Times Literary Supplement The story of the composition of Four Quartets, in relation to mysticism, constitutes one of the most interesting pages in modern literary history. T.S. Eliot drew his inspiration not only from the literature of orthodox Christian mysticism and from a variety of Hindu and Buddhist sources, but also from the literature of the occult, and from several unexpected and so far unacknowledged sources such as the 'mystical' symbolism of Shakespeare's later plays and the visionary poetry of Rudyard Kipling. But the primary concern of this study is not with sources as such, nor with an area somewhere behind the work, but rather with that point in Four Quartets where Eliot's own mystical attitude and his poetry unite and intersect.

Based upon manuscript sources and the uncollected prose writings, as well as the published works, this is a profound exploration of Eliot's life-long preoccupation with mysticism. The author advances new readings of the familiar poems and essays through attention to Eliot's concern in poetry and prose with his roles as mystic, son and lover.

While severa] books have dealt with the Buddhism ofT.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, none have focused on its Christian aspect, though this is more fundamental to the poem.

In his preface, Redmond writes: “A century ago, Thomas Sterns Eliot published The Waste Land (1922), the poem that shook the staid world of Anglo-Saxon intellectuals. Eliot thought that the hope of the renaissance, after passing through the rationality of the Enlightenment and the utopia of the 19th century, was ending in a desert of “futility and desperation”. He saw the cause as culture loss. We have broken with our deepest traditions: literary, philosophical, spiritual; we have lost our humanities, our humanity [...] Eliot never lost his pessimism. But he balanced this realism with the hopefulness obvious in his later works, especially in Four Quartets, but hinted at in The Waste Land. He spoke of a turning; we may always turn away from chaos, turn back to our roots, “fare forward”, even “beyond”. In Four Quartets, he wished to ‘retune the delicate relation of the Eternal to the transient’“. The Spirituality of T.S. Eliot is Redmond’s gloss to Eliot’s most significant poems focusing on their mysticism. Drawing on Eliot’s literary, philosophical and religious heritage, Redmond offers us the most comprehensive study of the influential Anglo-American poet’s lifelong cultivation of mystic theology. More than another work of literary criticism, Redmond has attempted in this book to explain the poems’ meaning and to point out the relevant sources necessary to understand Eliot’s spiritual background. Walter Redmond (Chicago, 1933) is a distinguished researcher and professor of philosophy and theology. He has published hundreds of articles and dozens of books on logic and Novohispanic philosophy, theological philosophy, analytic philosophy and phenomenology in German, English, Spanish, and Latin, as well as taught in various countries in Europe and America. Redmond has also translated Edith Stein's works into English and Antonio Rubio’s works on logic into Spanish.

T. S. Eliot’s Ascetic Idealcharts an intellectual history of T. S. Eliot’s interaction with asceticism. Eliot’s early encounters with the ascetic ideal began a lifetime of interplay and reflection upon self-denial, purgation, and self-surrender.

Antes de dedicarse por completo a la literatura, T.S. Eliot fue un serio estudiante de filosofía. Este estudio pretende determinar la importancia de este hecho en su desarrollo como crítico literario. La intención es argumentar que el cambio que Eliot hizo de la filosofía a la literatura fue instigado con la esperanza de encontrar en el campo literario un estilo que había vencido durante sus estudios filosóficos.

In one of his most significant pieces of non-fiction, the mind behind Brave New World presents a thorough and articulate comparison of different forms of mysticism. Written for an audience presumed to be primarily familiar with Christianity, The Perennial Philosophy aims to extract greater theological truths from the common threads found across religions, and to explore how they can be used to judge mankind (and how it often fails to meet the standards set). It primarily consists of quotations taken from famous figures within each tradition, with short connecting passages written by Huxley. Random House of Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in ebook form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.