T.S. Eliot in Dhaka
Sarah Sutro

Abstract
Through a narrative centering on discovery of a volume of T.S. Eliot poetry in a small bookstore in Bangladesh, a dialogue on poverty and discrimination is initiated. The literary environment of Dhaka emerges as a fertile background for a poet. Using excerpts from T.S. Eliot poems such as ‘Gerontian,’ and ‘Ash Wednesday,’ new poems develop including ‘In Gulshan,’ ‘Texts of our Time,’ and ‘The Brass Man.’ A perspective on being an American in Bangladesh emerges through reflection on the chaos of the street and the role of poetry as an actor in the social consequences of a stratified society.

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