Eliot at Bergson’s Lectures, 1910–1911

Scholars have stated that Eliot’s notes for Bergson’s lectures preserved in the Houghton Library “prove” that he only attended the lectures for part of January and February 1911. Hargrove argues that Eliot attended all of Bergson’s 1910–11 lectures despite the survival of only some of the lecture notes. As proof, she points to the opening undated three and a half pages of the notes, which seem to be the last part of a previous lecture. As additional support, she offers the excitement in Paris about the lectures of the charismatic professor and the huge crowds filling the lecture hall, the probability that Eliot suggested attending them to his parents as a major reason for spending the year in Paris, Eliot’s often losing notes, and his taking trips during holiday periods only. She closes with the account of these lectures by an admiring student, who describes the atmosphere in the lecture hall and conveys the feelings of adoration and respect of those attending—feelings, Hargrove argues, that Eliot would have shared.