To paraphrase A. S. Byatt, Leavis shows us the terrible, magnificent importance and urgency of English literature and simultaneously deprives us of any confidence in our own capacity to contribute to, or change it. This book is a classic example of his style. While Leavis's lack of equivocation is still thrilling, so totalising are his views that we are often left wondering if we even deserve to be thinking about the same issues. The problem with Leavis is not simply that he took a false position with regard to the relationship between culture and literature. The problem is that he, like Matthew Arnold before him, failed to acknowledge the ideological basis for his vision. Despite having aesthetic values which were clearly ideologically-informed, they both treated these values as if they were non-ideological. They saw their aesthetic choices as facts, necessarily ideology-free and non-negotiable. Arnold can be forgiven for such a view, living in the nineteenth century. For Leavis it was a luxury. For us, it is indefensible.

Throughout his life, Leavis steadfastly refused to defend his critical standards because he did not see them as choices which needed defending. Yet a defence of the Leavisite criteria - something which will make this book more meaningful to contemporary readers - can actually be mounted, and John Casey provides one in 'The Language of Criticism' (1966). This defence does not suggest Leavis's views are as unarguably true as he imagined them to be. Rather, it articulates the implied theory of art which underlies them, and thereby opens them up for serious debate: something which Leavis himself was never courageous enough to do.

George Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life consists of three tales involving three separate clergymen in England in the early 1800s. "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton" is about the financially strapped curate of Shepperton who lacks tact, charm, and learning. Although he is initially unpopular with his parishioners, he earns their affection through his personal misfortune. The second tale, "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story," is about a parson at Shepperton (prior to the time of Amos Barton) who falls in love with Caterina, the daughter of an Italian singer, who, in turn, falls for someone else. When that someone else chooses another woman to be his wife, Mr. Gilfil deals courageously with the devastated Caterina, who is now at "the point of lunacy" because of the rejection. The third tale, "Janet's Repentance," has Reverend Edgar Tryan trying to stir up interest about the Evangelical Church in the religion-indifferent industrial town of Milby. The townfolk vigorously oppose Tryan's efforts in some very dramatic scenes. Janet, a female alcoholic who is frequently beaten by her husband, is at first resistant to Reverend Tryan, but later sees him as a fellow sufferer. She then seeks his guidance for personal problems, with positive results. All three tales are unabashedly sentimental and melodramatic. As this was Eliot's first attempt at fiction, one can see she had a ways to go before she developed the literary perfection that resonates in her later novels like Middlemarch. The tale about Amos Barton is my favorite because Eliot succeeded in making a drab character the hero of a story. The "sad fortunes of" should have been kept out of the title, though, because it suggests only the depressing side of the tale instead of the triumph of character it really is. The way Caterina in the Gilfil tale continues to find her singing the only way to "lift the pain from her heart" points out how a person may deal with grief by relying on an innate talent. The way Janet in the repentance tale goes from a kicked-about drunk to self-actualization is inspiring. Eliot's minor characters, such as the old women, the doctors, and the servants are well drawn, using the speech patterns and vernacular consistent with their respective class or degree of education. Overall, I recommend Scenes of Clerical Life as a fine introduction to George Eliot. However, I feel it is important to read Adam Bede immediately afterwards so one can see how quickly Eliot's ability to write fiction evolved into an art.

Usually I find Bloom's books very helpful in understanding difficult works and authors. However, in this collection, all the essays are geared toward more serious scholars of Eliot's works, rather than toward the general reader looking for more information. Yes, the editor includes some standard and well known essays about Eliot by the likes of Hugh Kenner, Northrop Frye, Richard Ellmann (Joyce's biographer) and some modern critics, but there is nothing that holds these essays together. It would have been better to organize the essays around particular works -- instead, we get a brief look at Ash Wednesday, a bit on the Wasteland, some other random poems, you get the idea. Many of these essays are outdated by now. If you are a graduate student writing your thesis on Eliot, these essays may be useful, but for the general high school student or adult who justs wants some help with understanding Eliot, try a more user-friendly series like the Twayne's Masterworks, or Norton Critical Editions.

The Vocal Selections from CATS, is just that, a ten song selection of the "vocals" from this great play. Unfortunately, the music included is only for piano and guitar. The CD released in 1982 of twenty-one selections, gives the listener a "complete" sound for the play now on video. One of the problems with the materials available from the play are the differing versions. A veiwer of "just the video" may get the impression that this "is" the play. When looking at the book, "CATS (The Book of the Musical), then comparing to this vocal selections and the video it becomes clear of the differing versions of CATS. It is important that the reader of this book is aware of this fact. As a teacher, many of my students who look at these differing versions get confused by the character, costuming, and musical changes. This "Vocal Selections" however does give someone the ability to see many of the words of the most popular songs from the play and have a basic (piano) arrangement to accompany the work. I would recommend this book to persons wanting to prepare a solo performance and groups doing tributes to the show CATS. Finally, the book is a good value for the price and has some nice photographs arranged with the songs of the central characters for CATS.

This book's description sparked my interest and led me to think that it would fill a gap in Eliot scholarship. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The book does not quite achieve what it sets out to do.

I've not been well pleased by this book. Though some of its insights are valuable, and though it is somewhat well researched and fairly comprehensive, it's a chore to read. The author has a style that borders on the incomprehensible -- one feels that he is one of these people who uses tortuous turns of phrase in the mistaken belief that they'll make him seem sophisticated. As a result, the text is disjointed and difficult, its arguments meandering and ill-defined. Williamson has some good ideas, and probably knows what he means, but doesn't get his points across clearly -- it's almost as though he's trying to emulate Eliot's style (or to merely restate the poetry as prose) and, frankly, one often feels as though Williamson has ideas above his station.

In short, this has all of the hallmarks of high school essay-writing -- perhaps the author has spent too long in the company of his students. Using 'difficult' language is neither big nor clever if it serves only to obfuscate meaning; here, the wealth of double-negatives, run-on sentences and unexplained, bewildering conjecture is simply not helpful to the reader of an already difficult poet. If the reader works at it, he or she will gleam some benefit from this book - but there are far better, and better written, works out there. If in doubt, take a look at the excerpts on this site -- it may be that the rather purple prose will appeal to some readers; but I regret that where I had hoped for intelligent discourse, I instead found awkwardly adolescent writing that thought itself more clever than it actually was.

After almost every observation made by Hargrove in this work, I felt the need to let out a resounding cry of "DUH!!!" (not "DA" as the poet instructs).

This CLIFFS NOTES guide to the works of T.S. Eliot may have contained a wealth of information when it was written in 1965, but so many advances have been made in Eliot studies since that this guide is now out-of-date. Since it was written, we have seen the finding of the original manuscripts of "The Waste Land," Valerie Eliot's compedium of T.S. Eliot's letters, Eliot's youth poetry, etc.

The book is heavily slanted towards "Prufrock" and "The Waste Land," so that it gives short shrift to Eliot's later works, which are among his most beautiful. "Four Quartets" is only briefly covered, and the section on "Ash Wednesday" doesn't even mention the Dantean influence that is such a large part of the work!

"The Waste Land" is covered in great detail, but most of the explication is now obviously misguided because it is mostly based on Eliot's footnotes which, after the discovery of the original drafts and Ezra Pound's comments, are now understood as something of a joke.

If you are looking for insight into the poetry of T.S. Eliot, the CLIFFS NOTES guide is not the way to go. Try one of the latest books, such as the one by Cambridge University Press.

Does this author know how to write? My 6 year old daughter can write better.

I think this booek is a good book in order to figure out what Eliot think about negativities through Christian doctrine.
Professor Hay searched the whole range of negativity from phiopsophical to christian doetrine.
She started from philoshphical appreaches in negativity to religious approaches. The whole scope of negativity include Eliot's critical doctrine to riligious principle.
this book shows Hay's perspectives about Eliot's spiritual structure ranging from negativity to affirmativity. Changing to affirmativity is achieved through earlier poem to later poetry reaching the still point, the symbol of unification to God.