In a message dated 07/30/2003 5:25:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> If people such as yourself didn't bridle at the first hint of a dissension
> from the view that pound is NOT the greatest poet on earth, and the cantos
> are NOT the greatest modern epic, perhaps there would be less of a problem.
> I reject the view that modern attacks on pound are socially motivated, most
> find difficulty in the work itself, and any dismissal of genuine criticism
> of the author as simple social prejudice is lazy and plain wrong. I am a big
> fan of pound, but at the same time I do care what other "readers of pound"
> think, because I'm not arrogant enough to assume that my opinions on
> literature should be the be all and end all. Often the purpose of such
> critics is no such simple dismissal of pound, but a highlighting of the very
> obvious failings in the text; the fact i tried to start some discussion on
> the actual bloody poem and have been dragged into 'the man' is evidence
> enough of this.
>
>                Rich
>

These are the kind of bizarre remarks that make me wonder just what this list
is for..  Apart from the fact that I do think that Pound, warts are all, is
THE poet of the 20th century, at least in the english language, I wonder if the
author of these remarks has actually been reading the emails in response to
it.  As I pointed out earlier, just because one person thinks that he or she
finds "the very obvious failings in the text," doesn't mean that these so-called
failures in fact exist for everyone.  I suggested that this author
specifically identify these "he very obvious failings in the text," and he responded
that he didn't have his copy of the Cantos handy.  Perhaps I'm just being a
little persnickety, but it does seem to me that if one is trying to start a
conversation, as our author says he was trying to do, then one would have a copy of
the work under discussion in one's hand.  I do not think that this is an
unreasonable assumption.  Having said this, let me say that I'm in agreement with
"charlesmoyer."   There have been many bogus discussions on this list, almost
all of which begin with variations of  "I am a big fan of pound, but..." and
then proceed to make sweeping statements about Pound's failures, with nary a word
about what they find good or useful in him.  However, let me give our author
another opportunity to be specific, so that one may respond to him in kind,
and not have to deal with these sweeping, and often ignorant, conclusions.

joe brennan





They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.

Constant apprehension of war has the same tendency
to render the head too large for the body.  A standing military
force with an overgrown executive will not long be safe.
companions to liberty.  -- Thomas Jefferson


"America is a quarter of a billion people totally misinformed and disinformed
by their government. This is tragic but our media is -- I wouldn't even say
corrupt -- it's just beyond telling us anything that the government doesn't
want us to know."

Gore Vidal