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The Waste Land

A Biography of a Poem

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The Waste Land

By: Matthew Hollis
Narrated by: Matthew Hollis
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Summary

The Waste Land has been called the 'World's Greatest Poem'. It is said to describe the moral decay of a world after war, to find meaning in a meaningless era. It has been labelled the most truthful poem of its time; it has been branded a masterful fake. A century after its publication in 1922, T. S. Eliot's enigmatic masterpiece remains one of the most influential works ever written, and yet one of the most mysterious.

In a remarkable feat of biography, Matthew Hollis reconstructs the intellectual creation of the poem and brings the material reality of its charged times vividly to life. Presenting a mosaic of historical fragments, diaries, dynamic literary criticism and illuminating new research, he reveals the cultural and personal trauma that forged The Waste Land through the lives of its protagonists - of Ezra Pound, who edited it; of Vivien Eliot, who sustained it; and of T. S. Eliot himself, whose private torment is woven into the seams of the work. The result is an unforgettable story of lives passing in opposing directions and the astounding literary legacy they would leave behind.

©2022 Matthew Hollis (P)2022 Faber Audio Art & Literature Authors Literary History & Criticism Biography War
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Critic reviews

"With elegance, wit and...warmth, [Hollis] tells the story of The Waste Land’s difficult birth... At times the book reads, delightfully, as a group biography of modernism’s bright lights." (Susannah Goldsbrough, The Times)

"Hollis succeeds brilliantly in bringing the literary landscape of the 1920s to life… [He] turns a complex process of literary composition into a rattling good story...wonderfully compelling." (Tristram Fane Saunders, Sunday Telegraph)
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Very good account of the making of the Waste Land from a literary and biographical perspective.

Enlightening

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.. but it is a book of far more interest than just a guide. It gave me an insight into the inception, creation and fine tuning of a poem, it connected seemingly unrelated stuff about the Twenties and Thirties (with which I was already familiar) in new, unexpected ways and it shed light on the character and personality of the poet. A wonderful book, well read.

I would never have dared tackle poem without this

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Wow, what a biography. Packed with an amazing level of detail and context, fascinating characters and stories, and the backdrop of fascism and anti-semitism fully sketched in.

The most interesting part for me was understanding how TS Eliot began by blocking in the of The Waste Land and, with his wife and Ezra Pound’s help, refined and refined and refined each plane and shadow and nuance. I had no idea that writing a poem was so akin to painting a picture.

I must praise the production too, which is flawless. So many audiobooks produced in Britain are appalling to the extent of being unlistenable; this one was a pleasure from start to finish.

Absolutely brilliant

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A highly enlightening backstory to this famous poem. The writing and narration create a memorable atmospheric that stayed with me long afterwards.

Informative and atmospheric

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Excellent research and presentation in this well proportioned biography of a poem pitched perfectly for a wide audience and read by the author.

Thoroughly researched and beautifully written

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