I found what I was looking for on John Tytell's *The Solitary Volcano*:
"Much of the Futurist program seemed simply hilarious to the English, but
what impressed Pound was Marinetti's technique of art propaganda, the brash
statement and aggressive public stance. Pound saw Marinetti lecture in
Bechstein Hall at the time of the Sackville Gallery show and heard him
attack the English as snobs and sycophants "enslaved by worm eaten
traditions, social conventions and romanticism." Marinetti himself was as
much a spectacle as what he had to say. He wore spats and tailored suits,
wing collars and bow ties, and a turned up mustache that Dali later
imitated. He spoke frequently in London from 1912 to 1914, once at a Soho
dinner organized by Lewis, at the Dore Gallery, and in several lecture
halls. He would mix his crashing onomatopoetic poem "The Siege of
Adrianople" with a torrent of Italian. Jacop Epstein remembered that as a
performer Marinetti used an astonishing amount of energy, and his veins
would swell in his head. He would imitate machine-gun fire, the whirr of
airplane engines, and the boom of cannon, but the poems were of "a
commonplace and banality that was appalling." ...
This is enough to answer the question.
On a personal note I remember that I was most astounded when I had to read
Marinetti's Manifesto for school when I was round 18, that the same
Curricula contemplated such a bestiality, to say the least. Besides this,
some Futurists were exceptional, see Balla, Boccioni, Russolo, Severini and
Crali (one of my favorites) in the visual arts, Sant'Elia in architecture.
Close by in Rovereto they built the brand new Modern and Contemporary Art
Museum to honor the works they had of Depero who was born there. What I
think of it? No comment. I still have to justify my position. Well, Rovereto
is a tiniest town, and what can an enormous museum do there? Who travels all
the way to a dislocated town to see some artwork?
Depero's work? Within the average, fundamentally nothing special. What
survives of the movement are classical statements on human nature, Balla's
and Boccioni's genial intuitions.
On 8/10/07, MJ Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Stepping out of the lurking shades for a moment, I'd suggest that they
> did meet, Stephen. I have none of my Pound biographies here so cannot
> check that way, but Canto 72 has the ghost of Marinetti speaking to
> Pound (a Dantesque ploy that appears in the *Four Quartets* too - and
> Pound then says
> "Again that hasty and impatient spirit
> Like a messenger who's chafing at delay
> And will not stay for business of less merit
> Burst in – I recognised the voice of Marinetti
> Heard long ago in Piazza Adriana//, down by Tiber-side."
> - I'm sure Jack Ross won't mind me quoting his translation from the
> Italian on his very informative blog *The Imaginary Museum* (I don't
> have that new edition of *The Cantos* containing Pound's own long-lost
> translation) -
> http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2007/03/poetry-live.html
> By the way, I found your RAINTAXI interview fascinating, too - and it
> helped me to relate more to the work I've seen on your blog. I had to
> laugh, too, reading your quip "I'm not actually that big of a reader" -
> I've still not managed to get through Proust myself & admire anyone who
> has. It probably helps living in a city like San Francisco where there
> are lots of readers.
> Best
> Martin
> Stephen Vincent wrote:
>
> >I will not talk about Marinetti's then growing fascist politics and why,
> >etc. I wonder if he and Pound ever met.
> >
> >Stephen V
> >Walking Theory is my new book from Junction Press.
> >www.junctionpress.com
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Ne'er fash your thumb what gods decree
> To be the weird of you or me.
>
> Robert Fergusson
>
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