Question for Maria (Maria Anna Calamia <[log in to unmask]>)


I would like to address this question primarily to Maria.  However, I invite
anyone else on the EPOUND list who wants to answer it to do so

The question involves Pound's attitudes toward women, as expressed in his
writings.

In the years 1914-1915, for instance, Pound came up with his own theory
(derived partly from de Gourmant) that "the brain is, in origin and
development , only a sort of great clot of genital fluid held in suspense or
reserve. . . ."

Here are some quotes which indicate what Pound felt about the differences
between men and women.

". . if we consider that the power of the spermatozoide is precisely the
power of exteriorizing a form ,, and if we consider the lack of any other
known substance in nature capable of growing into a brain . . . ."

Rather than supply the conclusion, I invite readers to draw their own, or
---more importantly-- examine the premise:  the spermatazoide is the only
substance capable of growing into a brain . . .[I wonder why Pound did not
think an ovum was also a substance capable of growing into a brain?]

Pound also wrote that there were traces of the brain-as- spermatazoa theory
[as if that should make any difference] . . .

" . . . in the symbolism of the phallic religions, man really the phallus of
speramatazoide charging head on the female chaos . . .  Even oneself has
felt it, driving any new idea into the great passive vulva of London, a
sensation analagous to the male feeling in copulation."

He also said that women were "conservers and inheritors", that they may be
clever and practical, but "not inventive, always the best disciple of any
inventor."

What reactions do female participants on this list have towards such
statements?





________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com