Re Pound and Jewish mysticism:
 
We're not talking coffee here (although let us recall Williams's
recollection of Pound's method of making coffee in Paris and London)!  I
wouldn't want to make all Jewish culture synonymous with Jewish mysticism,
but Pound's affiliations with Jewish writers and Jewish books are
worth exploring.  His very first footnote (in "Sandalphon") refers to the
Talmud, and his last book (if "Selected Prose" can be considered that)
returns a number of times to Jewish texts and textuality.
 
I take Pound's joke about his name--how could someone named Ezra be an
anti-Semite?--very seriously.  An entire chapter of my recently completed
dissertation looks at these matters in great detail.  I'd be glad to
elaborate on or off-line, but the gist is that Pound engaged in a most
conflicted identification with Jewish texts and textuality throughout his
career.  One reason the Talmud comes in for such criticism on his part is
that it is the quintessential "Jewish" text--i.e., no proper form,
multilingual, fragmentary, no beginning or end, filled with mistakes,
lies, propaganda, arguments, gaps, etc.  Sounds alot like the Cantos, no?
 
Jonathan Gill
Columbia University