Mime-Version: |
1.0 |
Sender: |
|
From: |
|
Date: |
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 20:26:13 +0500 |
Content-Type: |
text/plain; charset="us-ascii" |
Reply-To: |
|
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Dear Dan,
I 'm afraid I didn't make it clear enough. I do not hold that Pound's
anti-Semitism stems directly from a reaction against the strictures in The
Torah. However, his thought lands him in a position that can rationalize
and use race-prejudice to consolidate itself.
Pound's interest in Greek knowledge/practice (Eleusis in particular) is far
more than thematic. I read it as an interest in a mode of perception and
representation, which are fundamentally similar to his own. The Muss. of
the Cantos, for instance, is a product of this mode. The Torah forbids
such perception and thus EP's "suburban prejudice" acquires a new
dimension. What he inherited from the cultural milieu in which he grew up
becomes a convenient tool in the specific Hellenic context of his mature
thought. My case is that EP's Muss. is a Dionysus-figure as well,
conceived in terms of Greco-Roman paganism. Such a political formation is
anti-Judaic in spirit and this endows Pound's anti-Semitism with a
structural and political function. That is, Pound has a valid political
reason for attacking Jewish texts--possibly without reading them thoroughly
though I have not been able to verify that.
Maybe I'm a bit too preoccupied with this issue bec. I have the current
Indian context in mind. What prevails here appears to be similar to the
German situation in the 30s. The basic patterns have a lot in common, to
the extent that here too, a Semitic religion is on the receiving end.
However, to elaborate on it would mean a thoroughly political discussion
and this doesn't seem to be the right place for it.
Mohandas C. Bhaskaran
<[log in to unmask]>
|
|
|