It is my impression that a careful reader could see through Torrey's
rather oppressive agenda--he seems to have decided long before writing
that Pound was not mentally ill--and glean plenty of fascinating
information about the St. Elizabeths years.  We ought to keep in mind that
Torrey is a proponent of forcible intervention into the lives of the
mentally ill in order to keep them from harming themselves and others, and
that in recent years he seems to speak about this issue, which he knows
first hand, his sister having been a schizophrenic, with a great deal of
concern and thoughtfulness.  Regrettably, these qualities often seem absent
from his work on Pound.
 
Jonathan Gill
Columbia University