Rowland, Dominic Charles Edward; (1997) T.S. Eliot, 'The Criterion', and literary controversy, 1922-1939. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis examines T. S. Eliot's critical interests in the inter-war period by means of attention to his contributions to The Criterion, and discussion of their place in contemporary controversies which occupied literary magazines. The preface situates this research in relation to previous work on this aspect of Eliot's career, explains the use of controversy as a model for studying The Criterion, and outlines my methodology. The introduction looks at the genesis of The Criterion, analysing Eliot's statements about the function of literary magazines and journalism, and the evolution of his ideas about the range of interests appropriate to them. Chapter one traces Eliot's allegiance to classicism, and its discussion in The Criterion, centering on the role of T. E. Hulme, and exploring Eliot's theoretical arguments with John Middleton Murry and the editors of The Calendar of Modern Letters. Chapter two discusses the influence of the French cultural critic, Julien Benda, and his antagonist, Charles Maurras, on Eliot's classicism during the twenties, and the place of these complex affinities in Eliot's concept of "the mind of Europe". Chapter three reviews the discussion and publication of D. H. Lawrence's work in The Criterion, and surveys the changes in Eliot's attitude towards him. Chapter four assesses The Criterion's part in contemporary controversies over censorship, and Eliot's critique of the censorship dogma of the Conservative government, and the popular press. Chapter five considers responses in The Criterion to the Spanish Civil War, particularly analysing Eliot's editorial writing. Through readings of his editorial articles, the chapter attempts to show that Eliot maintained a philosophically founded neutrality. The conclusion looks at the end of The Criterion, and at Eliot's assessment of its achievements in his last editorial writings and in texts from the forties.

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