The thing is Nathan is that Pound's literary reputation attracts far
right wing groups now, his fascism is still a live issue. In Italy
there's a lot of people who want to rehabilitate Mussolini and now
that Berlusconi is back that pressure is growing and you do see
Italian sources on the web that champion Pound as a supporter of the
neo-fascists. The site I came across meanwhile is an explicitly
international racist one.
Pound was a minor figure in politics, yes, but his celebrity as a
writer makes him a totemic figure for the right, and literary critics
who attempt to fudge the issue by glossing over the question of
content compromise matters.
And Pound's The Pisan Cantos is without argument an elegy and eulogy
to Mussolini. It waas written not longer after the deaths of Mussolini
and Hitler, when Pound thought himself about to be executed, and Pound
certainly knew about what had happened to the Jews in the
concentration camps, and its a declaration of right in the cause, it's
rather like Goring's speeches before the Nuremburg tribunal.
Auden's marxism was somewhat vague, Brecht's partial awareness of what
Stalin was up to is not so good. Marxism by itself is just a
nineteenth century pseudo-science with odd messianic tones, what old
Joe Koba did under its pretext is another matter. As I understand, the
full extent of his hell on earth is still not absorbed.
Best
Dave
2008/6/12 Nathan Hondros <[log in to unmask]>:
> While reluctant to start another Ezra Pound debate, I didn't really
> participate in the last one, so will have my one and only say. And briefly.
> My point is this: Pound was a political nonentity, and as such, his politics
> are irrelevant, except to the extent that they inform his poetry. As a poet,
> his significance still is enormous and his politics are a small aspect of
> his body of work (in my opinion). If you want to, then discard Pound's
> poetry about economics or politics. I do.
>
> Apparently, Brecht was a marxist around the same time. And Auden for that
> matter. That's just as insane as fascism, but who cares? They are just a
> pair of political nobodies. Brecht's theatre is still worth the effort, even
> if, at times, his loopy political ideas creep into the picture. Auden's
> poetry seems to have escaped largely unharmed.
>
> If we're talking poetry, then Pound's politics are of course interesting as
> a context, but they are not critical.
>
> If we're talking politics, then I'd rather argue about whether Huey Long was
> a fascist around the same time Pound's brain was short-circuiting over in
> Europe. He could have been President in 1936 or 1940 had he not been
> assassinated. And if he had become President, whatever insanity Ezra Pound
> believed in 1944 would have been the very last of our problems. And,
> referring to another discussion thread, the sixties and seventies may not
> have been as much fun...
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 5:19 AM, Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Nothing to see here, move on. Old news warmed over for adolescents.
>>
>> It occurs to me that, just like Crowley, it's Pound's fascism that
>> makes him interesting. If Pound was a card-carrying member of the
>> jesus cult, then he'd be just another untermensch slaving for an
>> imaginary friend.
>>
>> Roger
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 8:28 PM, David Bircumshaw
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> > what Pound and some of the other English language modernists were
>> > really about, underneath the rhetoric, have a look at the below, which
>> > includes an interesting summary of Vorticism. Have a look at the site
>> > it's on too, oh boy
>> >
>> > http://library.flawlesslogic.com/pound.htm
>> >
>> > --
>> > David Bircumshaw
>> > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
>> > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
>> "I began to warm and chill
>> to objects and their fields"
>> Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
>>
>
>
>
> --
> http://nathanhondros.blogspot.com
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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