The Imperfect Life of T. S. Eliot

Highly acclaimed when it was first published, Virago now reissues Lyndall Gordon's wonderful biography, THE IMPERFECT LIFT OF T.S. ELIOT.

Exploring Eliot's poetry, drama and essays in relation to his life in America and England, and to four quite different women who offer clues to his guarded character, this biography sees life and work as reciprocal parts of one design, the search for faith. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive a perfect life, and he also had the honesty to admit that he could not meet it.

Here, close up, is the divide between saint and sinner in the greatest poet of the twentieth century. By viewing Eliot from the vantage point of the next century, this enduring book follows the trials of a searcher whose flaws and doubts speak to all of us whose lives are imperfect.

“The most valuable single book yet published about Eliot”

Sunday Times
Subtle and authoritative -- Aida Edamariam Guardian
A nuanced, discerning account of a life famously flawed in its search for perfection New Yorker
Daring, strong and psychologically brilliant -- Cynthia Ozick New Yorker
An intellectually demanding, sophisticated and distinguished book . . . Probing and extremely thoughtful New York Times
With this hugely impressive study...Lyndall Gordon blew the door of T.S. Eliot's domesticity wide open...[H]er willingness to allow the poetry to go on working its magic while she stares, unflinching, into the face of the man who wrote it is an awesome achievement -- Arminta Wallace Irish Times
What would [Eliot] have made of a woman with such profound insight and knowledge as Lyndall Gordon writing his biography, stripping him of his cloak of mysteriousness, and offering credible interpretations of his work? Observer
A subtle portrait of Eliot as a Jamesian hero torn between memory and desire, worldly happiness and a more rarefied world of the spirit -- Michiko Kakutani New York Times
A fascinating portrait The Times
Balancing sympathy and judgement...Lyndall Gordon plumbs the gap separating Eliot's vision of an otherworldly Absolute from his decidedly terrestrial social views...No mere abridgement or revision of Lyndall Gordon's earlier two-volume biography, this work offers a wealth of new material and fresh insights Booklist
This complex spiritual and artistic history is reconstructed with tact, diligence, and subtlety Boston Globe
Gordon is the rare modern day biographer who can resist the temptation to make clay feet into a synecdoche for a man. "I propose to look flaws in the face without seeing flaws alone," she says, and she succeeds brilliantly Cleveland Plain Dealer
Gordon manages to be definitive but not dogmatic, sympathetic without taking sides, doorstop thick without seeming too long. It horrifies and fascinates like re-runs of a train wreck Baltimore Sun
Among the very best of this century's biographers Buffalo News
A model of its kind: authoritative, meticulously documented, sensitive alike to poetic and spiritual nuances Times Educational Supplement
Sunday Times
A nuanced, discerning account of a life famously flawed in its search for perfection New Yorker
An intellectually demanding, sophisticated and distinguished book . . . Probing and extremely thoughtful New York Times

Lyndall Gordon is the prizewinning biographer of people such as Charlotte Bronte, Virginia Woolf and Mary Wollstonecraft. Born and raised in South Africa, Lyndall is a fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford.

T. S. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive a perfect life, and he also had the honesty to admit he could not meet it. 'He was a man of extremes whose deep flaws and high virtues were interfused,' writes Lyndall Gordon in this perceptive and innovative biography of the great poet. She brilliantly explores his poetry, drama and essays in relationship to the four quite different women in his life and to his time in America and England. The Imperfect Life of T.S. Eliot follows the trials of a searcher whose flaws and doubts speak to all of us whose lives are imperfect. 'Writing with judicious sympathy and an intimate knowledge of his poetry and plays, Ms Gordon artfully moves back and forth between the life and the work, creating a subtle portrait of Eliot as a Jamesian hero torn between memory and desire, worldly happiness and a more rarefied world of the spirit' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 'Always revealing and interesting' Stephen Spender

Highly acclaimed when it was first published, Virago now reissues Lyndall Gordon's wonderful biography, THE IMPERFECT LIFT OF T.S. ELIOT.Exploring Eliot's poetry, drama and essays in relation to his life in America and England, and to four quite different women who offer clues to his guarded character, this biography sees life and work as reciprocal parts of one design, the search for faith. Eliot once spoke of a lifetime burning in every moment. He had the mind to conceive a perfect life, and he also had the honesty to admit that he could not meet it.Here, close up, is the divide between saint and sinner in the greatest poet of the twentieth century. By viewing Eliot from the vantage point of the next century, this enduring book follows the trials of a searcher whose flaws and doubts speak to all of us whose lives are imperfect.

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