1922 and all that

Not my best photo but this book had to be noted in my journal. It’s 100 years to the month since the publication of The Wasteland and there have been some fascinating radio docs about the period to mark the anniversary.
This tatty copy was my A level textbook in the mid-1970s and I was recently surprised to find that my 18 year old self had pinched it from my tech college… I guess I couldn’t bear to hand it back, along with all my notes in the margins. The pages are turning brown and it’s almost falling apart, my teenager’s handwriting was trying out new styles; there’s a blob of paint on the cover as well as some vintage blutack. Goodness knows how or why!

Like many other people, discovering The Waste Land and Prufrock caused a seismic change in my developing brain. I’d been a keen reader long before but Eliot opened a door into a whole new world of depth, questions, meaning and connections. It’s the basis of how I approach literature, art, history, music.

In a few weeks time I’m going on a Waste Land walk in London; I’ve no idea what that’ll be like but adding visuals is going to be very interesting.