Political Correctness requires that we dump out the baby with
the bath-water. I guess not too many of us on this list could
be Politically Verrry Corrrect if we're still holding on to
the baby.
==Dan
At 07:28 PM 9/6/99 -0700, you wrote:
>How and where does anti-semitism effect or embody Pound's poetics? His
>economics, personality, social views: yes. Imagism? Modernization of
>dramatic monologue? the Vortex? free verse? where is anti-semitism
>relevant in the development of any of these poetic achievments? In The
>Cantos, do the fragments of anti-semitism consume the main poetic
>themes and techniques which Pound strove to perfect? Pound was a great
>poet, but like Villon, Chaucer, Hemmingway,and Joyce, was a suspected
>asshole. Get over it. Be scholars and concern yourself with the
>anti-semitism when it is necessary. When it arises, talk about it,
>quote it, put it in proper context whether it makes Pound look like a
>great guy or not. I would like to see more comments supported by
>quotes, as I sometimes miss how these comments relate to the work (my
>fault).
>Erik Volpe
>62 Waller St.
>Providence, RI 02908
>401 351 3619
>--- Daniel Pearlman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>
>> By selective quotation, you softpedal the
>> antisemitism of the
>> 30s, which grew more and more severe.
>>
>> ==DP
>>
>>
>> At 12:09 PM 9/6/99 -0800, you wrote:
>> >If I may intrude my ignorance into this learned
>> discussion one more time...
>> >
>> >EP's "anti-semitism" seems to me a much more
>> complicated matter than
>> >either his defenders or detractors appear to
>> realize.
>> >
>> >1.From his earliest letters, poems & articles, EP
>> had an "anti-Judaic"
>> >positition,but I don't think this qualifies as
>> "anti-semitic" because
>> >it was part of his general "anti-monotheist"
>> stance, and (I think)
>> >always appears as part of a general rejection of
>> Chrisitianity, Judaism
>> >and Islam --"all this Xtian-Jew-Moslem bunk"as he
>> sez in one place.
>> >(Selected Leters)
>> >B. In a 1919 aritcle,EP says he prfers the Jews to
>> the Xtians and Moslems
>> >because they haven't started a religious war in
>> 2000 years (Selected Prose)
>> >C.The anti-monotheist position seems part of that
>> aspect of EP
>> >which comes closest to conventional "liberalism":
>> he dislikes monotheism
>> >because it appears historically linked to
>> intolerance.
>> >[Okay: he also disliked monotheism on poetic
>> grounds. His type
>> >of multilinguistic/multicultural sensibility
>> resonated more to
>> >polytheistic imagery than to monotheistic
>> abstraction
>> >or to Hindic monist abstraction.]
>> >
>> >2. In the 1930s, Pound repudiated anti-semitism
>> specifically and
>> >precisely in several places. Having joined the
>> anti-banker radicals
>> >as distinct from the anti-free-market radicals,
>> Pound found he
>> >had a lot of anti-semitic allies. He was not
>> quickly seduced by
>> >them. His 1930-1940 writings include several
>> explicit rejectons
>> >of generalized anti-semitism, usually on the
>> grounds that "the
>> >poorJews"were not responsible for the Rothschilds,
>> and twice on
>> >the grounds that the worst "usurers"
>> (money-coiners) were
>> >not all Jews and once on the grounds that some of
>> them were "Aryan"
>> >-- a sarcastic repudiation of Hitler's ideas.
>> (Collected Letters, Cantos,
>> >Terrel's Companion to the Cantos.)
>> >
>> >3. From about 1940 to somewhere in the 1960s EP
>> clearly
>> >and unambigously expressed uncritical (bigoted)
>> anti-semitism on
>> >many, many occasions. Only rarely did he pull back
>> to the
>> >(relatively sane) position of only blaming certain
>> banking families.
>> >He raved and ranted against "the Jews" in general.
>> >Some consider this immoral; some consider it
>> insane;
>> >I can see some truth in both perspectives.
>> >
>> >4.From sometime in the 1960s (date unknown to me: I
>> wd
>> >love to be informed by one of the more learned
>> members of
>> >this list ) EP repudiated his anti-semitism. (See
>> especially
>> >his interview with Allen Ginsberg) He then became
>> silent,
>> >either in clinical depression (psychiatric view) or
>> as
>> >pennance (religious view.) In either case, the
>> punishment
>> >inflicted upon him by the US govt was continued by
>> >self-punishment.
>> >
>> >5. The anti-monotheist position disappeared around
>> the same
>> >time as the anti-semitism. The religious imagery of
>> Pound's
>> >paradise cantos very carefully remains
>> non-sectarian,
>> >open to both monotheist and polytheist readings.
>> >
>> >This letter does not arrive at a verdict, and does
>> not intend
>> >to move others toward a verdict or toward
>> abandonning thier
>> >previous verdicts. I merely wish to share my own
>> sense
>> >of the complexity and tragedy of Pound's "errors
>> and wrecks."
>> >Most of the Cantos seem to me neither error nor
>> wreck.....
>> >
>> >
>> >Most humbly,
>> >
>> >
>> >mark chan
>> >
>> >
>> >[log in to unmask]
>> >
>> >
>> >That is precisely what common sense is for, to be
>> jarred into uncommon
>> >sense. One of the chief services whcih mathematics
>> has rendered the
>> >human race in the past century is to put "common
>> sense" where it
>> >belongs, on the topmost shelf next to the dust
>> cannister labeled
>> >"discarded nonsense."
>> > Eric Temple Bell, Mathematics: Queen of
>> the Sciences
>> >
>> >
>> >Las die Lasagne weiter fliegen!
>> >
>> >~
>> >
>> HOME:
>> Dan Pearlman
>> 102 Blackstone Blvd. #5
>> Providence, RI 02906
>> Tel.: 401 453-3027
>> email: [log in to unmask]
>> Fax: (253) 681-8518
>> http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/
>>
>> OFFICE
>> Department of English
>> University of Rhode Island
>> Kingston, RI 02881
>> Tel.: 401 874-4659
>>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
>
HOME:
Dan Pearlman
102 Blackstone Blvd. #5
Providence, RI 02906
Tel.: 401 453-3027
email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: (253) 681-8518
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/
OFFICE
Department of English
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 874-4659
|
