Rick,
I don't know what you mean by "a belief in secret history/tradition/ritual"
-- a belief in the existence or in the efficacy thereof? Are you saying
that Leon Surette is saying that Pound participated in secret rituals
and/or was a member of some secret society?  Help a lazy guy and gimme a
succinct summary.
Tim


At 03:16 PM 1/30/03 -0700, Richard Seddon wrote:
>Tim:
>
>Your question cannot be answered without a clear understanding of what you
>mean by Occult and what Surette means.  Surette spends almost 100 pages of
>the book in a general academic discussion of the Occult.  If you believe
>that Occult is simply dancing around a fire in fancy robes while intoning
>mysterious formulas or conducting séances then Pound was not an Occultist
>though Yeats probably was.  If you think that the Occult is a belief in
>secret history/tradition/ritual then "The Birth of Modernism" will show that
>Pound was an Occultist.
>
>The purpose of "The Birth of Modernism" is to examine and discuss the
>evidence for Occult ideas and tendencies in the work of the Modernists.
>
>After stating that his book is not Post-Modernism or New Historical or a
>neo-Marxist analyses Surette says; Page 6: "The rationale of this study is
>much closer to the old method of the history of ideas.  My hope is to
>identify both the nature and the provenance of a set of ideas, attitudes,
>and concerns that are ubiquitous in modernism and are particularly strong in
>William Butler Yeats, in his protégé, Ezra Pound, and, to a much lesser
>extent, in Pound's sometime protégé, T.S. Eliot."
>
>I am not trying to avoid the direct intent of your question.  In pursuit of
>his aims Surette has an entire chapter on "The Cantos" and another chapter
>on Pound's editing of "The Waste Land".
>
>However, the only fair answer to your question is for you to examine the
>book yourself.  It is available in most academic libraries and a fairly
>inexpensive, about $20.00, paperback edition.  The book is extremely dense.
>It is not a particularly easy read though it will fascinate and is very
>intellectually rewarding.  I found myself only able to read 10 pages or so
>before having to shift subjects for awhile.  The mind needs time to process
>the mass of information that Surette provides.  Bring your pencil to your
>reading.  You will like some parts and not others.
>
>Rick Seddon
>McIntosh, NM
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tim Romano" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 1:21 PM
>Subject: Re: Canto ergo possum physic
>
>
> > What works of Pound are cited in Birth of Modernism as evidence that he
>was
> > an "occultist"?
> >
> > Tim Romano
> >