T S Eliot An Imperfect Life: Amazon.ca: Books

Product Description

New York Times

[R]escues both the poet and the man from the simplifying abstractions that have always been applied to him.

Baltimore Sun

[D]efinitive but not dogmatic, sympathetic without taking sides. . . . Its voice rings with authority.

Tag this product

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

2.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars The most frustrating and subjective biography ever written!!, Mar 18 2003

By A Customer

I have always been impressed with the man T.S. Eliot but I cannot say the same about his biogrpaher, Lyndall Gordon. This book made my eyes go buggy and released the bats in the bellfry of my brain! I read this book when I was very sick and it was a very poor choice to say the least. I found her writing style thick with euphemisms, abrstractions, and other vague notions. Very little is mentioned about the man Eliot himself! What a ridiculous concept for a biography. She includes far too many segments of his poetry that only make sense in context. She spews them all over the book and leaves the reader wondering aloud, "Say what?". Though this book has a marvelous, intriguing cover it has nothing but blurry accounts of the man, T.S. Eliot. Find another biographer and you will be better off.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

1.0 out of 5 stars The most frustrating and subjective biography ever written!!, Mar 18 2003

By A Customer

I have always been impressed with the man T.S. Eliot but I cannot say the same about his biogrpaher, Lyndall Gordon. This book made my eyes go buggy and released the bats in the bellfry of my brain! I read this book when I was very sick and it was a very poor choice to say the least. I found her writing style thick with euphemisms, abrstractions, and other vague notions. Very little is mentioned about the man Eliot himself! What a ridiculous concept for a biography. She includes far too many segments of his poetry that only make sense in context. She spews them all over the book and leaves the reader wondering aloud, "Say what?". Though this book has a marvelous, intriguing cover it has nothing but blurry accounts of the man, T.S. Eliot. Find another biographer and you will be better off.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

2.0 out of 5 stars Sort of awful, Oct 22 2002

By	Alexandra Hoffer "victoriahoffer" (New Haven, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The biographer is so obsessed with Eliot's enigmatic inner state that she forgets to mention the things that happened to him during his life. Gordon speaks of Eliot's desire to enlist in WWI without ever explaining why; she never mentions his attitude toward World War II; she doesn't say that he was expelled from high school, what he majored in at college, what his income was during his years of fame, what kind of contact he kept in with his family and how they thought of him later in his life, what kind of contions he liked to write under in the early years, why he put so many allusions in his poetry if he disdained allusion-hunting. On the other hand, we do get excruciatingly detailed biographies of women like Emily Hale, Mary Trevelyan, and Vivienne Haighwood. The book tries to bore into Eliot's psyche and present all of his poetry as autobiographical, despite the damage done to readings of both the life and the poetry.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 7 customer reviews...

Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Spirituality, a key to Eliot
This biography is well-done, far superior to Peter Ackroyd's dull and uninspired "Life." What's most important about Lyndall Gordon's biography is her ability to... Read more

Published on Aug 14 2002 by Christopher Schroen

5.0 out of 5 stars Eliot & biographers: imperfect relations
T.S.Eliot, during his lifetime, refused to allow anyone to write an official biography. He was an intensely reserved and private individual. Read more

Published on Jul 24 2002 by Jos� Ignacio Silva

3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps Eliot was wise in distrusting biographers
Perhaps Eliot was wise in his distrust of biographers. Perhaps he knew his true essence could not be known by someone who did not know him personally. Read more

Published on Jul 3 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interpretation of Life and Work
This book combines two earlier biographies of T. S. Eliot by Gordon, with the inclusion of materials that had come to light since their publication (letters, early poems, and... Read more

Published on Feb 9 2001 by sjm4175@unix.tamu.edu