Prufrockian ?

[romg]

I'm familiar with Eliot, but still am uncertain of the common meaning of the word.

It seems as vague as say Pynchonensque.

[Martin Ambuhl]

romg wrote:
>
> I'm familiar with Eliot, but still am uncertain of the common meaning of the word.
>
> It seems as vague as say Pynchonensque.

NSOED:

Prufrockian /pru:'frA.kI@n/ a. L29. [f. the central character of T. S.
Eliot's poen "The Love Song of J. Alfred Pruforck (1917) +
+ IAN ] Resembling or characteristic of the timid, passive
Prufrock and his world of middle-class conformity and
unfulfilled aspirations.

Also check "Milquetoast" and "whitebread", which perhaps lack the
"unfulfilled aspirations" connotation.

[Charles Riggs]

On Thu, 31 May 2001 18:50:46 GMT, Martin Ambuhl
<mam...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>romg wrote:
>>
>> I'm familiar with Eliot, but still am uncertain of the common meaning of the word.
>>
>> It seems as vague as say Pynchonensque.
>
>NSOED:
>
>Prufrockian /pru:'frA.kI@n/ a. L29. [f. the central character of T. S.
> Eliot's poen "The Love Song of J. Alfred Pruforck (1917) +
> + IAN ] Resembling or characteristic of the timid, passive
> Prufrock and his world of middle-class conformity and
> unfulfilled aspirations.

I believe that should be "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".

Charles Riggs

[masakim]

_The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_ (200):

Prufrockian resembling or characteristic of the timid, passive Prufrock and
his world of middle-class conformity and unfulfilled aspirations, from the
central character of T.S. Eliot's poem _The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock_
(1917), who has 'measured out his life with coffee spoons':
I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
-T.S. Eliot 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock [sic, '] (1917)

Regards,
masakim