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Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine <[log in to unmask]>
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Leon Surette <[log in to unmask]>
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Wed, 31 May 2000 11:42:31 -0400
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En Lin Wei wrote:

"Mr. Surette says that it is innacurate to argue that Pound's anti-semitism
stemmed from one negative encounter with a potential sponsor who was Jewish.
  I don't think I was arguing that.  Pound himself describes the incident in
his letter, and he apparently attaches some importance to it.  My only claim
is that this is just one early illustration of the larger pattern.  I don't
think Mr. Surette is denying this pattern.  I think he agrees with me that
Pound's antisemitism was ingrained and was a sort of illness."

    I do deny the pattern articulated by Casillo and En Lin Wei. Pound's
anti-Semitism was the product of his political engagement and not the cause
of it.  I don't think this position excuses him in any way, but it is a
serious error, in my view, to regard the behaviour of any individual as
determined by some single factor that is present in their psyche from birth
or early childhood. I recognize that Freudians and behaviourists alike are
committed t othe latter view, and racists to the former. I am unfriendly to
both ranges of opionion.



Leon Surette
English Dept.
University of Western Ontario
London, Ont.
N6A 3K7

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