Perhaps they would be willing to commission a stone carver to create a
gargoyle of Pound?
Seriously,
Tim Romano

At 09:54 PM 3/4/03, Jennifer Wilson wrote:
>Several years ago Pound was nominated to the Writers Corner of the Cathedral
>of St. John the Divine in New York.  His nomination was subsequently
>rescinded when a member of the congregation circulated a petition noting
>intention to demonstrate.  She was a converted Jew and several of her family
>members had perished in the Holocaust.  Because the Cathedral considers
>itself a national ecumenical institution, church leaders determined in
>conference with others in the community that a reversal was in the best
>interest of the church.
>        Although the Writers Corner is a program of rather recent vintage, the
>reversal of a nomination was and is unprecedented.  Perhaps in a gesture of
>protest, E. L. Doctorow made note in his induction of F. Scott Fitzgerald the
>evening that Pound would have been inducted, that Fitzgerald was
>anti-Semitic.
>        In response to the rescission, Donald Hall, the Elector who nominated
>Pound, resigned in protest.  I have a letter from him describing the events.
>A recent phone conversation with Elector Carolyn Kizer generated her comment:
>"Disgraceful."  I have also visited with Lynn Chase, who endowed the Writers
>Corner, and Daniel Hoffman, who chaired the nomination committee.  At the
>time Hoffman noted that he would maintain the blank stone for Pound's
>eventual inclusion, but in our recent phone conversation he didn't sound
>optimistic.
>        I would be most grateful for any information you may be able to offer
>on this nouveau Bolingen.
>
>Jennifer Wilson