T. S. 엘리엇과 유교

T. S. Eliot and Confucianism

ln treating the influence of Oriental thoughts on Eliot, critics focus themselves in large part on the subjeet matter of Oriental mysticism in the context of Indic literature and la.nguage. Suggesting a more expan-sive study of the Orient, especially Chinese concept of history, tradition, literature, and language, I re-examine wha.t the Orient meant to Eliot. It has been ignored in dealing with Eliot’s Orientalism that northern Buddhism, called Mahayana school, founded by Nagarjuna, had been de-veloped through the influence of Chinese thought, changing with the new ideas of compassion for lay people. Eliot studied the teachings of Nagarjuna’s Madhaymika (middle path) through a Japanese Professor, Masaharu Anesaki, at Harvard, and he reflected them in his philosophi-cal and religious formulation. And through Pound’s works on Chinese literature and language in the early twentieth century, Eliot Augustan taste of post-Symbolism and his impersonal theory of poetry grew in essence. First, I briefly introduce the traditions of the Orient, which have been viewed as un-enlightened mysticism by the West. Largely, Hinduism. Buddhism, and Confucianism are mystical in their basic approach for understanding man and the universe. Eliot found this Oriental mysti-cism as enlightened, reflecting on his works. Hence, 1 discuss Eliot’s religio-philosophical experience of practical Anglo-Saxon, largely based on Bradleyan immediate experience,‘ in connection to the Confucian philosophical issues and religious experience. Subsequently. Eliot’s post-Symbolism for art’s sake and his imþersonal theory of poetry enfold an Augustan taste equating emotion and reason, and have creative and critical consonance with Pound’s aspects of impersonality in art, which had developed through Chinøse literature and language. Finally, 1 dis-cuss how Chinese thought of sagehood reflects on Four Quartets. ln the poem, an artistic wholeness is taken into account as a mystical means to suggest a structural unity for embodying the spirit of Chinese sagehood and to underline Eliot’s Anglo-Saxon experience in a practical sense of wi om. Ultimately, Chinese Confucian experience and Bradleyan immediate experience suggest a way of its complete simplici-ty in Eliot’s life and his creative activities.