J Brennan says,

>I think it's only fair to point out
>that a great deal of the Cantos is concerned with the ideas and actions of
>one Thomas Jefferson, who in the panoply of American ideals occupies a
>rather
exalted position as a democrat, in spite of the fact that he owned slaves
and
>occasionally slept with some of them.

This is precisely one of the points which interests me.  Can ANYONE ---Joe
Brennan included--- find any quote in Pound's work which says (or even
remotely suggests) that what Pound admired about Jefferson is that he
OCCUPIES A RATHER EXALTED POSITION AS A DEMOCRAT.

I have exerted considerable effort to find one such quote, and I cannot.
Now I assume that Joe Brennan admires Jefferson precisely because he
occupied such an an exalted position AS A DEMOCRAT.  I share that admiration
to a large degree (the issue of slavery aside).

My impression, from the Cantos, and from "Jefferson and/or Mussolini" is
that he admired Jefferson for his artistic sensibility, his style, his
genius, and for "his ability to govern the country with a small circle of
friends" (to paraphrase--I give the exact quote in another post).  Never
does Pound express admiration for Jefferson AS A DEMOCRAT, or because he
believed in democracy, as far as I know. I would love to be proven wrong on
this point if it is really the case.  The work "Jefferson and/or Mussolini"
seems designed to prove to the American public that Mussolini was very much
like Jefferson (thought not in the sense that either one was
democratic---only in the sense that both believed in "good government",
which for Pound was fascist government).  I hope everyone who is deeply
interested in Pound would read and reread that work, which reveals so much
about Pound's political thinking.  Then tell me that Pound admired Jefferson
AS A DEMOCRAT, or prove that Pound even gave a passing nod to a belief in
democracy.

Wei



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