Eliot was in certain respects a prize arse. Well, you may say, use
every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping? But the
Christian nationalist chauvinism, which feeds off and then back into
the antisemitism, is a more systematic variety of arsery, not just a
peccadillo but a moral and artistic *problem*. Not that we desire art
without problems...
Christopher Ricks's treatment of the issue in his book on Eliot and
"prejudice" is pretty good. If you want excoriation, Tom Paulin is as
usual your man.
Dominic
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