Vol. 41 No. 1 (1993)
Research Article

Prufrock-Shmufrock? An Appendage to J. Alfred's Nomenclature

PDF
  • Robert F. Fleissner
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.1993.41.1.15

Published 1993-03-01

Copyright (c) 1993 Maney

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

Is Prufrock's name a mere will-o'-the-wisp? Several lengthy studies of its meaning, etymologically and onomastically (or connotatively), have raised a number of issues concerning what Eliot had in mind, consciously or unconsciously. These have, to some extent, overlapped, and so a study bringing them together is in order. Each segment of the full name deserves careful study again, including the ambiguous initial, the resonant middle name, and the Germanic surname.

PDF

References

  1. Bluestein, Gene. “Prufrock-Shmufrock.” Yiddish 7 (1987): 53–56.
  2. Canary, Robert F. T. S. Eliot: The Poet and His Critics. Chicago: American Lib. Assn., 1982.
  3. Cervo, Nathan. “Stevens” The Comedian as the Letter C.’” Explicator 50 (1992): 228–31.
  4. Childs, Donald J. “Eliot Facts.” Rev. of Fleissner’s Ascending the Prufrockian Stair. Essays in Criticism 39 (1989): 348–52.
  5. Crawford, Robert. The Savage and the City in the Work of T. S. Eliot. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987.
  6. Fleissner, R. F. Ascending the Prufrockian Stair: Studies in a Dissociated Sensibility. Ser. IV; Eng. Lang, and Lit., Vol. 86. New York: Peter Lang, 1988. 1–24. Cited as APS.
  7. Fleissner, R. F. “Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.’” Expiicator 48 (1990): 208–10.
  8. Fleissner, R. F. T. S. Eliot and the Heritage of Africa: The Magus and the Moor as Metaphor. Ser. IV; Eng. Lang and Lit., Vol. 143. Peter Lang, 1992.
  9. Fleissner, R. F. “The Weakness of T. S. Eliot’s J. Alfred: More of Verdenal in ‘Prufrock.’” Names 38 (1990): 43–48.
  10. Grimaud, Michel. “Hermeneutics, Onomastics and Poetics in English and French Literature.” Modern Language Notes 92 (1977): 888–915.
  11. Harder, Kelsie, ed. Names and Their Varieties: A Collection of Essays in Onomastics. Latham, Md: University Press of America,1986. 223–29.
  12. Johnson, Carol Siri. Rev. of Fleissner’s Ascending the Prufrockian Stair. Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor (U of Ottawa) 11 (1990) : 52–53.
  13. Smith, Grover. T. S. Eliot’s Poetry and Plays: A Study in Sources and Meaning. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 1974.