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Where the Dreams Cross
T S Eliot and French poetry
240 pages
A thrilling, paradigm-shifting literary investigation into the hidden cross-cultural origins of modernist poetry.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like embarking on a thrilling intellectual detective story across Paris, Boston, and London. It is a deeply informative yet immensely readable exploration of the Modernist period, charged with the provocative energy of uncovering literary secrets. The mood is intensely inquisitive and revelatory, pulling the reader into a close, exciting analysis of poetic discourse and artistic appropriation. The prose balances rigorous academic depth with a brisk, engaging momentum that makes complex literary history feel tremendously exciting. It is an epiphany-inducing journey perfect for poetry lovers and scholars who delight in paradigm-shifting criticism and the fascinating, sometimes impudent, cross-cultural origins of twentieth-century thought.
- Mood
- intellectual
- inquisitive
- stimulating
- Tone
- provocative
- scholarly
- revelatory
- analytical
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- literary influence · artistic appropriation · cross-cultural poetics · modernist origins
- The writing
- Immensely readable and deeply informative, blending rigorous academic analysis with the thrilling pacing of a literary investigation.
- The arc
- Moves from intellectual curiosity to a profound, paradigm-shifting revelation about the origins of modern poetry.
- Who it's for
- Scholars and poetry enthusiasts eager for a provocative, deep-dive exploration into the hidden French roots of modernist masterpieces.
About the book
"Tremendously exciting. Immensely readable; deeply informative. It is a breakthrough. It will have a far-reaching effect in time in the history of 19th and 20th century European thought." (Joe Winter in Asian Age)
Sir Frank Kermode called it a milestone in Eliot criticism: "Guha has gone deeper into the French origins or sources of Eliot than any other commentator I have encountered." (The Sunday Times, London) The Times Higher Education Supplement called it "an epiphany." According to John Bodley, Director, Eliot Estates, "It will cause a rumpus sooner or later."
This amazing book closely analyses Eliot's fascinating use of various French poetic discourses to reconstruct English poetry of the twentienth century. Was Eliot's, then, an exceptional case of literary kleptomania? Were his virtues forced upon him by his impudent crimes?
Description from Open Library.
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