The main aim of Ihis article is 10 examine the significance of Ibe cily’s nighl in Eliot' s early poems, such as “The Little Passion." “Goldfish," "Prufrock’s Pervigilium," “Suile Clownesque," and “Rhapsody on a W indy ight." In these poems, Ihe cily’5 nigbt becomes the conlest zone in whicb bOlh the melropolis’s beauty and ugliness, and ils seduClion and hOTTor cúnf1iclingly coexist. Eliot" 5 f1anuers, who 51roll on urban slreels al night, are shocked (0 confront (he horror of high modemÎ(y. To some of them, as In “Prufrock’s Pervigilium.‘’ it is nol jusl the darkness of “problemalic" modemily bUI that of Iheir own inside Ihal Ihey encOunler 31 Iheir slrolling. A nother agenda that E liot" 5 early poems register is lhe urban nigh I as a gendered time-space, in which bOlh urban landscape and female bodies are transfigured inlo spectacular objecls under Ihe gaze of the desiring males. lnstead of foregrounding Ihe agenda of desire and sexualilY, Eliot's Oanuers, however, conslantly erase their OWIl desire by deployill8 l.be sLrategy of disavowal. In “Suite Clownesque," Lhe speaker’s lransgressive desire is effaced by lbe self.deconstructive parody of his perforrnative acts. “The Lillle Passion" presenlS anolher type of disavowal by displacing Ihe speaker's scxual desire into his own self.projecled Iragic characterizalÎon. Ralher l.han opening up a new/meaningful horizon of experience, lhe lransgressive desire in Eliot’5 poems is recaptured by lhe logic of modemity and lhc cily’s nighl, as exemplified in Ihe prostitule-moon in “Rhapsody on a Windy Nighl." becomes a lelling sign of Ihe “ugly" city.

• 이홍섭(인제대학교) | Hong-Seop Lee