TboneSE

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Well, sure, if COL49 and GR are not concerned with "pre-apocalypse" then no novel is. But I am not able to follow your argument. What do you mean by saying "the bones appear 'across' both the narrative and 'time'" and that this was an "important
'cosmological' notion"? Some Jungian ideas here, I suspect.

Also, I fail to see the connection between the two passages from TWL you quote. The second passage certainly conveys the idea of transformation, cyclical movement, with the sea, or water, as the central symbol of metamorphosis, and there is some
Shakespeare thrown in for good measure:

(...) the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
lines 47-48

Hmm, I just wanted to write that I find the association between "currants" and "currents" rather far-fetched. But I have this second discovered that Eliot himself states in his notes on TWL that the merchant of currants and the Phoenician sailor
are identical or melt into each other. So forget about that "far-fetched", and also about the missing link between the two passages. Still, why is Eliot "pre-apocalyptic"? Information, please...

Thanks,
Thomas

P.S. I can't really believe that we're trying to interpret "The Waste Land" here, but it is fun nevertheless.