Interesting.  Well, one of the reasons that I love Ezra Pound (and it's
possibly [almost said "perhaps" but I remember his annotations to the
rough draft of the Wasteland - 'damn per'apses'] the main reason) is
that one could use nearly any "[country] Studies" to describe him.  What
I mean is, Homer was the "education of the Greeks" and Pound is the
"education of the Americans and Europeans".

Have I gone too far? Possibly [but seeing as he had been born...]....
but, though I wonder why I MUST introduce ol' Ez to those who don't like
him or immediately respond to him, I've introduced many men and women to
him in person (I mean, saying "here, read this" or "hear, listen to
this")....  and, Guess What?.... their encounter with the old fascist
fart made them DEEPLY aware of the poetry of the WORLD.  Not to say that
they (or I) always agree(d) with him [EP].... hell, I love Milton,
e.g.....  But Ol Ez forced me to THINK about whether I like Paradise
Lost... not just assume that I must because.. oh, I don't know... maybe
someone I admired (like Mr. Pearlman, to pull a name out of a silk hat
perched on a Bradford millionaire) liked it..... Id est... EP made me
think for MYSELf {in his poetry AND in his prose}... badly as I pull it
off, and as idiotically as I've picked up some of the man's worst habits.

Jon & Anne Weidler wrote:

> People have wondered why Kate Cone, reasonable as she is, would object
> that American studies aren't safe on the Pound list.  She might have
> said so because of some mildly disgruntled comments like these,
> authored by Jay Anania:  "I thought this was a Pound list.   Certainly
> in the past, before the long tempus tacendi, it was often very
> interesting[. . .] [But] questions about how to teach Zane Grey has me
> a little confused.  On the other hand, I thanks Charles, Carlo, and
> some others for their insights, and especially their ability to form a
> lively sentence."
>
> I'm the fellow who started the ZG thread (about eleven hours ago, on a
> whim), and couldn't help but wonder about the spirit of such confusion
> myself, much as I suspect Kate did.  "American studies" of course
> includes Zane Grey, as Sylvester P. just noted.  Kate (I assume) was
> reacting negatively to the notion that this list be strictly about
> Pound and nothing else.  I think that she might have been overhasty in
> asking to unsubscribe (Kate: it would be nice if you didn't follow
> through on that threat!), but I sympathize with her gripe.  Jay likes
> well-written sentences and well-informed people; so do we all, I hope;
> however, he seems not to like it that threads stray from our proper
> topic.
>
> Opinions are opinions, and this is by no means a closed question: my
> wife warns me that many newsgroups expect posters to remain on their
> stated subject, and only write towards the list's main purpose.  I
> hadn't anticipated that this would be such a list (since after all,
> Pound didn't exactly restrict his discursive interests) but would like
> to be informed if such is the case.  If not, I see no reason to
> complain about posts that drive over the curbs, so to speak.  I'm no
> stranger to listgroups, and though I am a relative newcomer here, I can
> tell when there are long-time members with prestige and clout, and
> around whom other long-time members will collect.  I value the
> diversity of this list (even though the sentiment makes me choke on
> such regurgitated undergraduate platitudes).  Surely it's permissible
> for newcomers to introduce lines of discussion, and I don't think it's
> much of a presumption.
>
> Enlighten me, for I am burdened-
> Jon
>

--

Dirk Johnson
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