psychobabble

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

My village mate DYBlaine mentions TSE:

> No wonder Eliot was attracted to England and
>her Church of Totalizing Metanarratives (pace, Andrew).  Think of
>Stencil's motto, by contrast: "approach and avoid" (mother) V.  -Diana

But remember Eliot's embrace of such system was not as totalizing as he himself, I 
suspect, like to make it appear.  He never lost that possumness, his distinctly 
American tendency towards subversion (IMHO 4 QUARTETS is a big trick poem, 
pretending to renounce poetry while luxuriating in it and ultimately affirming it as 
the only reality); I am always reminded of my favorite quote of the 20th century 
(next to Nixon's "What?" of course), when old blind Wyndham Lewis responded 
to someone's remark about TSE embracing High Anglicanism,--"Oh, that's all very 
well, but he doesn't come in HERE talking like Westminster Abbey."

And that possum is to me very much a legacy bestowed on our Boy, a true possum 
if there ever was one (vide that intro to SLOW LEARNER)

Happy Thanksgiving, Diana.

john m