T.S. Eliot Editorial Project

The purpose of the T. S. Eliot Editorial Project is to co-ordinate, for the first time, the editing of the poetry, plays, critical writings, and correspondence of perhaps the pre-eminent and most influential writer of the twentieth century.

Since Eliot's death in 1965 his oeuvre has had only a partial, unsatisfactory afterlife. While the unpublished Clark and Turnbull lectures, _The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry_, were published in 1993, establishing appropriate textual principles and annotational standards for such materials, a large amount of his published prose has gone out of print. Moreover, a remarkably extensive number of prose pieces, ranging from essays and lectures to introductions and reviews, and contributions to debates on questions as varied as literature, religion, politics, education, publishing and cultural commentary, have never been collected for the world-wide readership that aspires to enjoy access to a complete and annotated edition of his works.

While portions of Eliot's poetry -- notably _Inventions of the March Hare_ (1996) -- have been issued in full-dress scholarship, the majority of the poems have not yet been edited to a standard that will meet the expectations of scholar, student and general reader. The same holds true for the plays.

With the commitment and support of the T. S. Eliot Estate and Faber and Faber, this Project will ensure that no fewer than six volumes -- _Complete Poems_ (2 vols), _Complete Plays_ (1 vol), _Complete Prose_ (2 of an envisaged 7 vols), together with a third volume of the _Collected Letters_ (covering the period 1926-1928), edited or co-edited by UK-based scholars -- will be delivered for publication by the year 2012. Because the Project brings together the work of dedicated team of scholars, editors and critics, under the academic management of the Institute of English Studies (Director, Professor Warwick Gould) at the University of London, all of the volumes can be delivered in quick order, and at about the same time.

Concerted and co-ordinated effort is the key to the success of this enterprise. The editors will work in partnership, agreeing upon conventions including abbreviations and modes of cross-reference, and sharing findings as needed. The volumes will correspond too in terms of presentation, apparatus and supplementary materials including collations, draft variants and appendices. The project participants will be making use of unprecedented and shared access to the archival resources (both the library and a wealth of papers) of the collections of Mrs Valerie Eliot and of Faber & Faber, and will also share exclusive access to Professor Schuchard's digital database of the prose writings.

The outcome of this combined enterprise will be to establish authoritative and fully co-ordinated editions of the poetry, plays, prose and letters of the highest textual accuracy. At long last, it will enable readers to see Eliot whole: the tally of his works will include over 200 printed but unrecorded prose pieces and 90 unpublished prose items. Scholarly notes will identify sources, allusions and parallels. Also, by providing access to the totality of published and unpublished works, it will facilitate a fresh and thorough critical assessment of Eliot as poet, critic, playwright, publisher, correspondent and cultural commentator. In addition, this collective edition will situate Eliot's works in their genetic, generic and artistic relation to one another. Eliot himself noted, in a late interview: '_Burnt Norton_ began with bits that had to be cut out of _Murder in the Cathedral_.' He also took pains to make the larger critical point that 'writing plays ... made a difference to the writing of the _Four Quartets_.' This Project will accordingly afford a context for comprehending the relationship between the poems and plays and all associated works, and it will facilitate the fullest appreciation and critical comprehension of Eliot's work.