Metaxy and Criticism

Geoffrey Hill, Collected Critical Writings page 561

This text establishes a critical point of view within the text in question: a measure of justice, reflexive/toward the subject of the text. Hill has placed it in the narrative of Eliot’s career and by extension the history of modern poetry via the objective correlative. According to Hill, Eliot failed to be true to his idea.

The condition of the judgment is what I call the between.

Betweens are communities.

There are many betweens. There is also a between between all relative betweens and God. God in this Between is the creative agapeic No-thing outside of all betweens.

As any reader of Desmond can testify, the community of betweens is made possible by word play of Joycian proportions.

Author: Tom D'Evelyn

Tom D'Evelyn is a private editor and writing tutor in Cranston RI and, thanks to the web, across the US and in the UK. He can be reached at tom.develyn@comcast.net. D'Evelyn has a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. Before retiring he held positions at The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard University Press, Boston University and Brown University. He ran a literary agency for ten years, publishing books by Leonard Nathan and Arthur Quinn, among others. Before moving to Portland OR he was managing editor at Single Island Press, Portsmouth NH. He blogs at http://tdevelyn.com and other sites. View all posts by Tom D'Evelyn