T. S. Eliot's Drama: Critical Perspectives / Fabio L. Vericat, Didac Llorens-Cubedo.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Vericat, Fabio L., editor.

Llorens-Cubedo, Dídac, editor.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

What kind of a playwright comes into being when an avant-garde poet moves on to write Christian popular theatre, and what happened to T. S. Eliot on the way? Tunes into a consolidating academic trend of re-examining Eliots drama after years of neglectApproaches Eliots plays not merely as literary texts but also as stage theatre, considering aspects of performance and productionDraws on recently published editions of Eliots Complete Prose and his LettersIncorporates key new archival material to the field of Eliot studies, principally the Emily Hale Letters recently unsealed at PrincetonT. S. Eliots writings for the stage have never competed critically on equal terms with his poetry despite his openly stated conviction that the greatest poetry is invariably dramatic and should speak to all audiences. The essays contained in this volume revolve around the question of Eliots life-long interest in and later development of verse drama incorporating the latest research and archival resources most importantly, his recently published letters to Emily Hale. This book fills a gaping hole in the critical appreciation of Eliots commitment to drama from the mid-1920s to the end of his career by principally exploring the tensions in his work between the playwright and the poet. It does so by presenting Eliots drama as a fruitful ground for the newest critical approaches about an artist who has too long been a prisoner of his persona as the leading poet of Modernism.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations for T. S. Eliots Works

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

Introduction: The Drama of the Poet / Fabio L. Vericat, Didac Llorens-Cubedo

Part I. Avant-Garde

1. T. S. Eliots Sweeney Agonistes and a scenario for a ballet / Gabriela M. Minden

2. Dont make it arty: Sweeney Agonistes as Closet Drama and the Fashioning of the Modernist Playwright / Fabio L. Vericat

Part II. Ritual

3. A disturbance of the quiet seasons: Eco-Spiritual Renewal in Murder in the Cathedral / Shannon McClernon

4. Ancient Feast and Urban Sacrifice in The Cocktail Party / Christina J. Lambert

Part III. The Stage

5. The Rock on Page and Stage / Parker T. Gordon

6. Not pulpit oratory: T. S. Eliots Audience, Christianity and The Family Reunion / Nicoletta Asciuto

Part IV. Turn

7. Late to The Family Reunion; or, the Loop in Time / Anthony Cuda

8. Where is he going? : The Family Reunion, Emily Hale and the Uses of Hope / Patrick R. Query

Part V. Popularity

9. A Yorkshire Tragedy? The Family Reunion, the Twentieth-Century Crime Play and Elizabethan Domestic Tragedy / Alex Davis

10. The Playwrights Progress: Rethinking T. S. Eliots Comedies / Didac Llorens-Cubedo

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed April 14 2026)

ISBN:

1-3995-4123-4