Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, T.S. Eliot was considered the greatest English-language poet of his generation. His poems The Waste Land and Four Quartets are classics of the modernist canon, while his essays influenced a school of literary criticism. Raised in St. Louis, shaped by his youth in Boston, he reinvented himself as an Englishman after converting to the Anglican Church. Like the authoritative yet restrained voice in his prose, he was the epitome of reserve. But there was another side to Eliot, as acclaimed biographer Lyndall Gordon reveals in her new biography, The Hyacinth Girl. While married twice, Eliot had an almost lifelong love for Emily Hale, an American drama teacher to whom he wrote extensive, illuminating, deeply personal letters. She was the source of āmemory and desireā in The Waste Land. She was his hidden muse.
That correspondenceāsome 1,131 lettersāreleased by Princeton Universityās Firestone Library only in 2020āshows us in exquisite detail the hidden Eliot. Gordon plumbs the archive to recast Haleās role as the first and foremost woman of the poetās life, tracing the ways in which their ardor and his idealization of her figured in his art. For Eliotās relationships, as Gordon explains, were inextricable from his poetry, and Emily Hale was not the sole woman who entered his work. Gordon sheds new light on Eliotās first marriage to the flamboyant Vivienne; re-creates his relationship with Mary Trevelyan, a wartime woman of action; and finally, explores his marriage to the young Valerie Fletcher, whose devotion to Eliot and whose physical ease transformed him into a man āmade for love.āĀ
This stunning portrait of Eliot will compel not only a reassessment of the manājudgmental, duplicitous, intensely conflicted, and indubitably brilliantābut of the role of the choice women in his life and his writings. And at the center was Emily Hale in a love drama that Eliot conceived and the inspiration for the poetry he wrote that would last beyond their time. She was his āHyacinth Girl."
This book title, The Hyacinth Girl (T.S. Eliot's Hidden Muse), ISBN: 9781324066033, by Lyndall Gordon, published by W. W. Norton & Company (November 21, 2023) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
Unlike Amazon and other retailers who may also offer The Hyacinth Girl (T.S. Eliot's Hidden Muse) books on their website, we specialize in large quantities and provide personal service, from trusted, experienced, friendly people in Portland, Oregon. We offer a Price Match Guarantee, and QuickQuote form, to make purchasing quick and easy.
Prefer to work with a human being when you order The Hyacinth Girl (T.S. Eliot's Hidden Muse) books in bulk? Our Book Specialists are standing by Monday-Friday 8-5 PST, ready to help!