T. S. Eliot’s Anti-Nationalism as Pan-Nationalism for European Cultural Unity

This paper probes T. S. Eliot’s anti-nationalistic ideas for European cultural unity by analyzing his creative and critical writings. The study views Eliotian anti-nationalism as an extended form of nationalism based on the primordial and instrumental natures of a nation and on European cultural unity. Eliot strongly protested World War I and argued that Europe must unite in peace. He opposed nationalism not because he found any contradictions or logical flaws in it but because he thought it had divided Europe, stymying the continent’s cultural integration. For this reason, it is acceptable that Eliotian anti-nationalism is built on a nationalist basis to depict an ideal, culturally united Europe. With nationalism, his anti-nationalism idea shares both the “will” or “consciousness” of community members and the roles of “tradition” in a community. This has great implications for Korean readers who have to simultaneously consider the unification of the two Koreas from a nationalistic perspective and world peace from an anti-nationalist angle. As humanity benefits from learning the past, reading Eliot still remains relevant in modern-day Korea.