In his poem “Macavity: The Mystery Cat,” T.S. Eliot presents
a crafty and witty cat who is described as “the Napoleon of Crime” (43). Macavity,
“The Hidden Paw” (1), is so quick of comprehension that he even deceives the
most famous detective institutions of the world, such as the Scotland Yard and
the Flying Squad. The poem is such an interesting work of T.S. Eliot that it
“…showed [Eliot] a
worthy descendent of Lewis Caroll and Edward Lear as a writer of serious light
verse” (Bergonzi , 136) together with other cat poems he published in the same
collection. Analyzing the important contextual aspects of the poem, this short
essay is designed to give information about the publication, audience, discourse,
reception and current status of the poem.
The
poem first appeared in an earlier version “announced by Faber and Faber, as Mr. Eliot’s Book of Pollicle Dogs and
Jellicle Cats as Recited to Him by the Man in White Spats, in the spring of
1936…” (Ackroyd 251). The first version of the collection was subsequently
edited by Eliot himself and published in 1939 as Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats[1]
by Faber and Faber. The book appeared in print format with the cover
illustration[2]
by Eliot himself:
The most obvious difference between the two versions is,
without doubt, the titles of the collection. The name of the second book
reflects a joke that Eliot and his friends used to tease each other. According
to Peter Ackroyd, “Eliot, Geoffrey Faber, and Frank Morley used regularly to
meet in the late thirties. They gave each other nicknames” (235) and Eliot is
known as ‘Possum.’ Therefore, the name of the book can be considered as
reflecting a playful and optimistic approach.
The question that what kind of an inspiration made Eliot
write a poem about a criminal cat has different answers. On the one hand, Stephen
Spender states that poets, such as Baudelaire, Cowper and Eliot, have always
shown an interest in cats since they are mysterious and need interpretation
(407). Eliot’s “affection for small rather than large animals is sufficiently
well known, and he was the owner of a succession of cats with names like
Pettipaws, Wiscus and George Pushdragon” (Ackroyd 251). For that reason, while
writing Old Possum’s Book of Practical
Cats, Eliot must have been driven by the desire to write poems to honour
his favorite animal.
On the other hand, T.S. Eliot’s poetry is known for its
sophisticated modernist themes reflecting his post-dramatic stress disorder and
individual desire to escape from the modern world. Bernard Bergonzi states that
in 1939, Eliot was disappointed with the state of Europe and in “a compound of
personal fatigue and profound depression” (135). In the February of the same
year, Eliot gave up the editorship of The
Criterion[3],
and later in the same year he published The
Family Reunion and The Idea of A
Christian Society. The poem collection
was Eliot’s least crowd-pulling work produced in 1939, while at the same
time the book uncloaked the least familiar aspect of Eliot’s literary career
(Bergonzi 136).
Although
the whole collection was regarded as a minor and less important literary work
of Eliot, it was reviewed as enviable and entertaining at the time it was first
published. In 1939, Stephen Spender described it as “… a charming book,
charmingly produced, and very moderately priced” (408). In 1981, Andrew Lloyd
Webber produced Cats[4]and
“Eliot has re-emerged as a popular entertainer commanding huge audiences of
children and adults” (Karsten). On the other hand, Macavity’s shrewdness and
talent in perpetration have turned the name ‘Macavity’ into a cult today. The
Liberal Democrat leader David Heath, for instance, compared the former British
PM Gordon Brown to Eliot’s fictional cat by calling him “the Macavity of the Cabinet”
in 2005[5].
Although
no record proves that “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” has been reproduced in a
different collection after Old Possum’s
Book of Practical Cats, the poem has appeared several times within the
collection since the first publication. Some of these publications are the ones
by Faber and Faber in 1948, 1982, 1999 and 2009, by Harcourt Brace in 1982, and
by Houghton Mifflin in 2009 (AbeBooks).
Along with the other poems in the
collection, “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” seems like it was produced for
children. Stephen Tunnicliffe argues that Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was
specifically suitable for 11-12 year-olds (38), which was supported by Morag
Styles as she associates the book with the young audience (217). However, it is
also claimed that the book was consisted of “children poems for adults” (Karsten
534). Moreover, it is possible to consider the poem as a part of a larger
discourse that acknowledges the animal side of human beings and reflects that
idea in a metaphorical way as Ted Hughes did in his literary work Crow: From The Life And Songs of The Crow.
Today, it is unknown where one can
find the original 1939 publication with Eliot’s illustration on it, yet it is
known that one of the most sophisticated and pessimistic poets of the 20th
Century had a deep and affectionate interest in cats, which, in fact, arouse
many academicians’ interest from various disciplines such as literary and
cultural studies, political science and studies in biography. Beyond that, Macavity,
“a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity” (Eliot 37, Old Possum’s Book), seems like it will keep its place as the
criminal brilliance in the fictional world.
[1] Eliot,
Thomas S. “Macavity: The Mystery Cat.” Old
Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats.
London: Faber and Faber, 1939.
[2]
See Eliot, Book Cover.
[3] A
British literary magazine published between Oct. 1922 to Jan. 1939. See Howarth
for an insightful history of the
magazine.
[4] A
musical based on Eliot’s Old Possum’s
Book of Practical Cats. See Larson for a review
of the musical.
[5] “Business
of the House.” UK Parliament.
www.parliament.uk. 23 June 2005. Web. 12
Nov 2015.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder