Editing T. S. Eliot (section)

===Antisemitism===
The depiction of Jews in some of Eliot's poems has led several critics to accuse him of [[antisemitism]], most forcefully [[Anthony Julius]] in his book ''T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form'' (1996).<ref>[[John Gross|Gross, John]]. [https://archive.today/20120731045824/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/was-t-s--eliot-a-scoundrel--8635 ''Was T.S. Eliot a Scoundrel?''], ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary magazine]]'', November 1996</ref><ref>[[Anthony Julius|Anthony, Julius]]. ''T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form''. Cambridge University Press, 1996 {{ISBN|0-521-58673-9}}</ref> In "[[Gerontion]]", Eliot writes, in the voice of the poem's elderly narrator, "And the jew squats on the window sill, the owner [of my building] / Spawned in some [[wikt:estaminet|estaminet]] of [[Antwerp]]."<ref>Eliot, T. S. "Gerontion". ''Collected Poems''. Harcourt, 1963.</ref> Another example appears in the poem, "Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar" in which Eliot wrote, "The rats are underneath the piles. / The jew is underneath the lot. / Money in furs."<ref>Eliot, T. S. "Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar". ''Collected Poems''. Harcourt, 1963.</ref> Julius writes: "The anti-Semitism is unmistakable. It reaches out like a clear signal to the reader." Julius' viewpoint has been supported by [[Harold Bloom]],<ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/books/review/Bloom-t.html | title = The Jewish Question: British Anti-Semitism |first=Harold|last=Bloom|author-link=Harold Bloom| date = 7 May 2010| access-date = 9 April 2012 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]]}}</ref> [[Christopher Ricks]],<ref name = "Dean">{{cite magazine| url = http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/academimic-3143| title = Academimic: on Craig Raine's ''T.S. Eliot''| author = Dean, Paul| date = April 2007| access-date = 7 June 2011
| magazine=[[The New Criterion]]}}</ref> [[George Steiner]],<ref name = "Dean" /> [[Tom Paulin]]<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Tom|last=Paulin|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v18/n09/tom-paulin/undesirable|title=Undesirable|magazine=[[London Review of Books]]|date=9 May 1996}}</ref> and [[James Fenton]].<ref name = "Dean" />

In lectures delivered at the [[University of Virginia]] in 1933 (published in 1934 under the title ''After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy''), Eliot wrote of societal tradition and coherence, "What is still more important [than cultural homogeneity] is unity of religious background, and reasons of race and religion combine to make any large number of free-thinking Jews undesirable."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Russell|last=Kirk|author-link=Russell Kirk|url=http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=04-03-023-v|title=T. S. Eliot on Literary Morals: On T. S. Eliot's ''After Strange Gods''|magazine=[[Touchstone Magazine]]|volume=10|issue=4|date=Fall 1997}}</ref> Eliot never re-published this book/lecture.<ref name = "Dean"/> In his 1934 pageant play ''The Rock'', Eliot distances himself from [[Fascist]] movements of the 1930s by caricaturing [[Oswald Mosley]]'s [[Blackshirt]]s, who "firmly refuse/ To descend to palaver with anthropoid Jews".<ref name=Rock44>T.S. Eliot, ''The Rock'' (London: Faber & Faber, 1934), 44.</ref> The "new evangels"<ref name=Rock44 /> of [[totalitarianism]] are presented as antithetic to the spirit of [[Christianity]].

In ''In Defence of T. S. Eliot'' (2001) and ''T. S. Eliot'' (2006), [[Craig Raine]] defended Eliot from the charge of anti-Semitism.{{what|date=June 2024}} Paul Dean was not convinced by Raine's argument but nevertheless concluded, "Ultimately, as both Raine and, to do him justice, Julius insist, however much Eliot may have been compromised as a person, as we all are in our several ways, his greatness as a poet remains."<ref name = "Dean"/>  Critic [[Terry Eagleton]] also questioned the entire basis for Raine's book, writing, "Why do critics feel a need to defend the authors they write on, like doting parents deaf to all criticism of their obnoxious children? Eliot's well-earned reputation [as a poet] is established beyond all doubt, and making him out to be as unflawed as the [[Gabriel|Archangel Gabriel]] does him no favours."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Terry|last=Eagleton|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/rainessterilethunder/|title=Raine's Sterile Thunder|magazine=[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]|date=22 March 2007}}</ref>