Dear Dan,
 
I 'm afraid I didn't make it clear enough.  I do not hold that Pound's
anti-Semitism stems directly from a reaction against the strictures in The
Torah.  However, his thought lands him in a position that can rationalize
and use race-prejudice to consolidate itself.
 
Pound's interest in Greek knowledge/practice (Eleusis in particular) is far
more than thematic.  I read it as an interest in a mode of perception and
representation, which are fundamentally similar to his own.  The Muss. of
the Cantos, for instance, is a product of this mode.  The Torah forbids
such perception and thus EP's "suburban prejudice" acquires a new
dimension.  What he inherited from the cultural milieu in which he grew up
becomes a convenient tool in the specific Hellenic context of his mature
thought.  My case is that EP's Muss. is a Dionysus-figure as well,
conceived in terms of Greco-Roman paganism.  Such a political formation is
anti-Judaic in spirit and this endows Pound's anti-Semitism with a
structural and political function.  That is, Pound has a valid political
reason for attacking Jewish texts--possibly without reading them thoroughly
though I have not been able to verify that.
 
Maybe I'm a bit too preoccupied with this issue bec. I have the current
Indian context in mind.  What prevails here appears to be similar to the
German situation in the 30s.  The basic patterns have a lot in common, to
the extent that here too, a Semitic religion is on the receiving end.
However, to elaborate on it would mean a thoroughly political discussion
and this doesn't seem to be the right place for it.
 
Mohandas C. Bhaskaran
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