Eeldrop and Appleplex

Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 17K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Eeldrop and Appleplex by T. S. EliotAuthor: Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 2004

Editor's review

Eeldrop and Appleplex is an early short prose piece by T. S. Eliot. Brief as it is, it hints at the poetic and critical sensibilities that would later define his work. Built around dialogue and observation between two characters, it has an ironic, speculative tone and dwells on the spiritual condition of modern urban life and the clash of ideas. For readers familiar with Eliot's poetry, it offers a side view of his prose narrative and characterisation; for scholars of modernist literature, it is a small but useful piece for understanding his early writing experiments. Light in length, it works well as supplementary reading rather than a first introduction, and is best read alongside his early poems and critical essays.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers familiar with Eliot's poetry who want to explore his prose
Students and scholars of modernist and twentieth-century English literature
Readers who enjoy short, speculative prose and a light read
Readers interested in the spiritual condition of the modern city and the dialogue of ideas

Not a good fit for

Readers new to Eliot who want to start with his major works
Readers of novels expecting a full plot and strong narrative drive
General readers unaccustomed to irony and abstract speculation

Reading tips

Read Eliot's early poems first, then this piece, to better appreciate its verbal wit.
It is short enough to finish in one sitting; then revisit the dialogue to sort out the two characters' disagreements.
Consult background material on modernist literature to understand what the irony is aimed at.
After reading, jot down a short note on images or ideas that echo themes in Eliot's poetry.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a prose piece?

It is usually regarded as a short prose work by Eliot, built around dialogue and observation with an ironic, speculative tone. It is not a complete novel in the traditional sense, and it is quite short.

Is it suitable as an introduction to Eliot?

Not really. It is better as supplementary reading after you have read Eliot's poetry or critical essays; for a first introduction, start with his representative poems and criticism.

What background knowledge is needed to read it?

Some familiarity with the general atmosphere of early twentieth-century modernist literature helps, especially the urban experience and intellectual anxiety in Eliot's early poetry. A reasonable command of English is enough to read it through.

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About the author

Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965 Author

T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1888–1965) is a major figure in twentieth-century English poetry and modernist literary criticism. The library holds six of his works, including Prufrock and Other Observations, Poems, The Waste Land, the critical collection The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism, Ezra Pound: His Metric and Poetry, and the prose work Eeldrop and Appleplex. These works show him writing compressed, allusive verse about the anxiety and spiritual barrenness of modern urban life, while his criticism discusses poetic tradition, metre and principles of composition. Public information about his life and honours is limited, so it is not elaborated here; nevertheless, his poetry and criticism have had a profound influence on twentieth-century English literature.