NeMLA 2023 Roundtable: What the Thunder said: Exploring Eliot in the Age of Anthropocene
The planetary event characterised as Anthropocene in our times shares a particular relationship with the Modernist milieu which sought to represent the conflicts that extend to the non-human and the more-than-human world. Scattered through Eliot’s poetic oeuvre is the speculation of how to think seriously about the planet. Every street lamp that Eliot’s lyric persona passes from beats like a “fatalistic drum” with Bergsonian élan vital (the creative force) which informs both the human and the non-human world. This roundtable invites contributions which will explore the non-human aspects in Eliot’s poems.