Tim
No: Surette is not trying to say that Pound was a member of a secret society
or that he participated in secret rituals. Pound was closely associated
with a lot of people who did. It is the ideas and the thinking of the
Occult that Pound was soaked in that Surette is concerned with. Surette
reads "The Cantos" as Pound's revelation of a secret history.
A lazy guy should be able to read "Royalty and All That", chapter 47 of
"Guide to Kulchur". If you are really a couch potato pay particular
attention to page 264. This will give you a taste for Pound's belief in
Secret history.
Part of the problem I think is the emotional baggage we bring to the word,
"occult". As I said Surette spends the first 100 pages of his book
reviewing the history and central ideas of Occultism.
Dictionary definition for the lazy.
1. Beyond ordinary knowledge
2. secret; known only to the initiated.
3. dealing with the supernatural or magical; the occult sciences
Where Pound is Occult is in his affinitinity for the first two. Yeats
managed all three. Pound rejected magical but not the supernatural.
Rick Seddon
McIntosh, NM
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Romano" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: Cantgo ergo possum physic
> 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
> > >
>
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