Whither Literary Onomastics? “Prufrock” Revisited

Abstract

Abstract

The dominant literary onomastic tradition has been to search for the hidden symbolic meaning of names. We place this tradition within a broader and, potentially, more fruitful dual perspective: that of general onomastics and that of contemporary literary theory. As an example, my own (1977) reading of the name “Prufrock” is integrated into what I now see as a more significant and pervasive use of naming in T. S. Eliot's poem. Other approaches are discussed briefly and are accompanied by a list of annotated references.