- Hardcover: 128 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt (Mar 1949)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0151672776
- ISBN-13: 978-0151672776
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.2 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,449,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Notes Towards the Definition of Culture
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Product Description
Product Description
'The term culture . . . includes all the characteristic activities and interests of a people; Derby Day, Henley Regatta, Cowes, the twelfth of August, a cup final, the dog races, the pin table, the dart board, Wensleydale cheese, boiled cabbage cut into sections, beetroot in vinegar, 19th century Gothic churches and the music of Elgar. The reader can make his own list . . .' In this famous essay T. S. Eliot examines the principal uses of the word, and the conditions in which culture itself can flourish 'So rich in ideas that it is difficult to select two or three of them for comment . . . it is a natural history of culture.' Sunday Times
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He came to England in 1914 and published his first book of poems in 1917. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Eliot died in 1965.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Diachronic means that this book is as accurate as it was 50 years ago when it was written!! Most importantly it was written by TS Eliot a genius of literature who yet writes in a very understanding and clear way. I recommend this book to anyone who is an admirer of the arts, culture or just good literature. It is an amasing book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Books by Eliot are still very collectible. Faber and Faber have consistently published these editions. And they are worth it. Even though this book is not very well known, it was worth the read.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An abstruse essay that sheds some light on an abstruse subject matter
30 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
Eliot begins by conceding that the subject of his study "involves the risk of error at every moment" and is "so difficult that I am not sure I grasp it myself except in flashes, or that I comprehend all its implications." He defines culture as "not merely the sum of several activities, but a way of life" of people living together in one place. It is "made visible in their arts, in their social system, in their habits and customs, in their religion." He warns the reader about the danger of committing two errors: "that of regarding religion and culture as separate things between which there is a relation, and that of identifying [equating] religion and culture." Culture and religion are separate and distinct, but they are intricately interwoven.
Eliot breaks culture down into three classes: the individual, the group, and whole society. The culture of the individual is "dependent upon the culture of a group or class, and that the culture of the group or class is dependent upon the culture of the whole society to which that group or class belongs." He begins his study with culture at the whole society level, setting out to avoid
The material organization of a nation is inextricably linked with its spiritual life. In the context of Europe, if the spiritual organization dies, "then what you will organize will not be Europe, but merely a mass of human beings speaking several different languages." "In the most primitive societies no clear distinction is visible between religious and non-religious activities; and that as we proceed to examine the more developed societies, we perceive a greater distinction, and finally contrast and opposition, between these activities."
The culture of the West has been formed through common conceptions that have been handed down from the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome and Israel. These legacies have given way to common conceptions of private and public morality, a conception of Roman law, and common standards of art and literature. It is the duty of men of letters throughout Europe to pass on this culture, unadulterated by political motives, to future generations by producing "those excellent works which mark a superior civilization."
Eliot breaks culture down into three classes: the individual, the group, and whole society. The culture of the individual is "dependent upon the culture of a group or class, and that the culture of the group or class is dependent upon the culture of the whole society to which that group or class belongs." He begins his study with culture at the whole society level, setting out to avoid
The material organization of a nation is inextricably linked with its spiritual life. In the context of Europe, if the spiritual organization dies, "then what you will organize will not be Europe, but merely a mass of human beings speaking several different languages." "In the most primitive societies no clear distinction is visible between religious and non-religious activities; and that as we proceed to examine the more developed societies, we perceive a greater distinction, and finally contrast and opposition, between these activities."
The culture of the West has been formed through common conceptions that have been handed down from the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome and Israel. These legacies have given way to common conceptions of private and public morality, a conception of Roman law, and common standards of art and literature. It is the duty of men of letters throughout Europe to pass on this culture, unadulterated by political motives, to future generations by producing "those excellent works which mark a superior civilization."
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