This article explores the coexistence and interaction with the Other in T. S. Eliot looking in particular at different cultures’ relationship. This study escapes the usual label that Eliot tends toward one-sided emphasis on a rapprochement with England, Europe, and their traditions. Eliot begins with the epistemological argument that we can’t find anything original or ultimate. He accepts “finite centres” or “points of view” instead of the “self” and defines the unified self as an “ideal construction.” “A point of view” is conscious of the fragmentary world and identfies it with whole universe. Eliot holds that “a point of view” depends upon and interacts with other points of view and interprets experiences. In the relation of cultural community to each other, Eliot asserts that each community is based on its own tradition. Tradition can exist only through its application to particular situations by its participants who appropriate and implement the tradition, according to their particular situational interests and needs. It embodies and maintains the common meaning and “identical reference” of various finite centres. Since tradition is the cooperative consensus of various viewpoints, it follows that each cultural community is conscious of a point of view, which negates the wholly cognized and calls for taking cognizance mutually. Each community never achieves a purely unprejudiced God's eye-view which is alleged the only true understanding. Eliot focuses on the condition where a community resists assimilation into other communities and embodies incommensurable difference in diverse communities. He believes that a greater uniformity of culture seems likely to result from the pressure of one civilization, which brings about a lower grade of culture altogether. Cultural communities, while remaining distinct, should be able to mix freely. Eliot advocates each community has its own distinguishable tradition, which should also harmonise with, and enrich, the cultures of the others. He shows the desire to escape the limitations of a point of view and extend the reference through interaction with the Other.

• 김희성(이화여대) | Hee Sung Kim