The Roots That Clutch

The Roots That Clutch tells the haunting true-story about how a young woman discovered through her PhD research on T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound that her grandmother had had an affair with the other great American Modernist, William Carlos Williams. She also discovers that her father may be the biological child of Williams. The story is told through the experiences of the author’s persona, Jane. Written as a Bildungsroman, the novel takes place at universities and manuscript libraries in Europe and the United States over the span of 21 years. The unmistakable themes of betrayal, destiny and poetic justice are woven into the tapestry of the novel. Though as a student she is constantly the victim of academic politics and betrayals between professors, Jane is supported by a few well-connected scholars who believe her innate insight into poetry could offer vastly new perspectives in the field. Despite the never-ending struggle to continue, Jane is pushed along by an unquenchable hunch that she must not give up. As Jane slowly unravels the poetic connections between Eliot, Pound and their immediate late-nineteenth century British predecessors, she stumbles upon Eliot’s unpublished letters to Pound. Jane soon discovers that betrayal is not only an academic’s trade secret, but also a poet’s. Then, her father decides she should have a family heirloom that was her grandmother’s. It contains an inscription from Williams in it, who like Jane, had always distrusted T.S. Eliot.

In this volume Elizabeth Gregory addresses a number of key issues surrounding the formation of the American poetic canon. Taking as her primary examples T. S. Eliot's Waste Land, William Carlos Williams' Paterson, and selected poems by Marianne Moore, she examines the ways in which modern American writers struggled with questions of literary authority and cultural identity in relation to pre-existing European models. Gregory focuses on these issues through analysis of the use of quotation in modern and postmodern literature, a practice that was strikingly divergent from the accepted use of literary allusion. Her introduction traces a history of quotation as it has been practiced in literature from classical to modern times. She then focuses on the texts of Eliot, Williams, and Moore--three central figures of American modernism whose work the author believes represents a spectrum of responses to the established European model of poetical discourse. Gregory's selection of Moore also allows her to deal with feminist concerns as they emerge in the more general modernist dialogue. How was a female writer to make use of a literary canon that traditionally excluded female participation? "The implications of Gregory's argument . . . will surely be of especial interest to feminist scholars of American poetry."--Lois Parkinson Zamora, University of Houston.

"The poems, . . . some of the poetic drama (particularly Sweeney Agonistes), and relevant sections of prose criticism, are discussed in detail and placed in relation to the development of Eliot's oeuvre, and more briefly to his life and a wider context of philosophical and religious enquiry" --Introduction.

Discusses the writing of The waste land by T.S. Eliot. Includes critical essays on the work and a brief biography of the author.

Over 15 years in the making, an unprecedented one-volume reference work. Many of today's students and teachers of literature, lacking a familiarity with the Bible, are largely ignorant of how Biblical tradition has influenced and infused English literature through the centuries. An invaluable research tool. Contains nearly 800 encyclopedic articles written by a distinguished international roster of 190 contributors. Three detailed annotated bibliographies. Cross-references throughout.

We need a more creative approach to teaching writing. A methodology incorporating creativity, as modeled by students in this text, demonstrates the kind of progress we are all seeking, offering an exciting challenge for young writers and educators alike.

Using a variety of approaches from the traditional to the post-modern, this volume brings together essays by 14 scholars who examine T.S.Eliot's poetry and criticism. These essays were written and edited on the occasion of Eliot's birth centenary.

Considered a quintessentially 'popular' author, John Buchan was a writer of fiction, journalism, philosophy and Scottish history. By examining his engagement with empire, psychoanalysis and propaganda, the contributors to this volume place Buchan at the centre of the debate between popular culture and the modernist elite.