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Date: | Sun, 23 Jul 2000 11:53:36 -0700 |
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Dear Wei:
Your association of Pound with Jews and the consequent
against-the-grain reading of Cantos doesn't work.
1) Milton's admiration of Satan leaks through inhis descriptions,
and such lines as "Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven" sounded
good to the nonconformist Blake but was not meant that way by the pious
Milton. Blake liked Hell; Milton didn't.Pursuant to this, there are a few
places (not inCantos) where Pound is easy on Jews, but he never makes them
attractive, as Milton does with Satan.No admiration leaks through.
2) Yes. the Romantics liked Satan because they too were
revolutionaries opposed to tyranny, and the compass had by that time
slipped around to a point opposite to Milton's. Well, if we ever get a
neo-Fascist, anti-Semitic literary movement (and that may not be far off),
Pound's politics may be regenerated, as Satan's was. But I'm sure you
don't want to hasten the day.
Jacob Korg
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