Customer Reviews

H. D. and Hellenism: Classic Lines (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)

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Gregory enlarges understanding of the influence of Hellenism, especially Alexandrian, on the literature of the earthy 20th century and on the work of H.D. Her detailed scholarship is delightfully readable and informative....Highly recommended for undergraduates, graduate students and scholars. A significant contribution to H.D. studies.

As a graduate student (about to finish my dissertation on H.D.) I have been reading this book for 6 years; I've read some chapters as many as 6 or 7 times and I'm still learning from it. The depth of Gregory's understanding and thoughtful, nuanced discussion of this poet's use of Classicism is unprecedented.

In the past, books like Thomas Swann's "The Classical World of H.D." mostly dismissed or tried to excuse H.D.'s use of Classical allusion; Swann concluded (and other critics like Douglas Bush, Hugh Kenner, Harold Bloom supported the conclusion) that H.D.'s Classicism was so undeveloped and thin that her use of Classical sources was just a "mythic mask" for what Swann calls "the private fund of her life."

Gregory's book clearly and repeatedly refutes these types of dismissals that have long haunted H.D.'s critical reputation. Each chapter is a demonstration of how deeply and thoughtfully H.D. uses Classical texts. The disconnect between the poet's practice and the critical reception says more about Modernist criticism than H.D.'s practice. Gregory provides a well-researched and compelling argument for a very rich textual relationship.

Gregory's book should be read by anyone who wants to broaden their ideas of Modernism's relationship with Classicism, because in understanding how H.D.'s project is different from mainstream, it expands the conventional boundaries of literary Modernism.