Christopher Hitchens

[stoutfellow]

The only writings by Christopher Hitchens that I've ever read are his book reviews in Atlantic. By and large, I haven't found them to my taste; there's an underlying meanness and smugness to them that repels me. However, I've usually accepted that he knows what he's talking about, regardless of the soundness of his interpretations. Lord knows I'm nobody's literary critic; I've read my share of prose and poetry, but nowhere near what Hitchens obviously has. But one item from his latest review has me wondering.

The review, in the July/August issue, discusses T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". (Well, actually, it discusses Eliot himself - disparagingly - more than anything else, but "The Waste Land" is the ostensible topic.) His main point seems to be that efforts to interpret the poem may well be a, well, waste:

[Eliot] was to tell the Paris Review that in the composition of the closing sections "I wasn't even bothering whether I understood what I was saying." There seems no reason at all why we should not take him at his word.

I'm unwilling to quarrel with this; I'm not sufficiently familiar with the poem to do so. (I prefer Eliot's later work, especially the Four Quartets.) But Hitchens continues with the following line:

[In] what conceivable universe - even the batty, sinister one of Ezra Pound, who insisted that the poem open in that manner - is April the cruelest month?

Um, well, Chris, it always seemed clear to me that Eliot's complaint is that April promises rebirth and renewal, and this is a lie. In the bleak universe of "The Waste Land", this seems a perfectly comprehensible position.

"One of us is very confused, and I honestly don't know which."

Comments

[filkferengi]

In re: the Dusty Springfield, have you ever read any Jennifer Crusie books? Lois recommends them very highly. Anyway, in a couple of them, a main character is a huge Dusty Springfield fan. It adds a nicely authentic, 3-D feel to the characters.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't, but I'll be sure to take a look. (Any specific titles?)

[filkferengi]

_Welcome To Temptation_ and then _Faking It_; enjoy!