And what about En Wen Li's assertion of deliberate "elidings" in earlier
scholarship on Pound. When we look at his/her hero Robert Casillo's
explication of Canto 40, we are struck by the fact that, although
Casillo says that this Canto is pivotal to Pound's work, Casillo
completely "elides" any comment on the first half of the Canto. This is
because the first part of the Canto does not conform to Casillo's
scholarly campaign against Pound. Half of this essential Canto merits no
comment from Casillo. Propaganda at its ever lovin' best.--- Carlo
Parcelli

[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> for some time now I've harbored the suspicion that there is a cadre of
> Poundian critics whose purpose in commenting on the life (mainly) and the
> work (hardly ever) of the complicated author known as Ezra Pound is to
> discredit not only Pound the person, but the entire breadth and width of his
> poetry.  now comes the hysterical deconstructions of one En Lin Wei, who, it
> seems, can find nothing of merit in Pound's work, nothing but racism,
> anti-Semitism, fascism and raw hatred.  for Wei, every nuance of Pound is
> nothing but a confirmation these isms, with the implication that those who do
> find merit in Pound's work are either ignorant or stupid.  am I the only one
> who thinks it funny that such a critic should indulge in the same dogmatic
> blindness that he accuses Pound of?
>
> it may be that the progrom against Pound is having its effect.  how else can
> one explain Carrol Cox's startling conclusion that, even though he has
> (apparently) enjoyed reading the Cantos for more than 45 years, he could not,
> "under current social/political conditions ... in honesty recommend to a
> young person that they devote much time to it."  what a telling remark!  are
> we to assume from this that young people of today are incapable, over a life
> of reading, to differentiate between Pound the fascist and Pound the poet?
> or is he afraid that by recommending Pound's poetry to young people, that
> they will somehow see him as someone who endorses the objectionable aspects
> of Pound's work?  anyone who engages Pound must, early on, come to terms with
> Pound's ugliness.  it is only after a great struggle that one can come to an
> honest appraisal of the work itself, and see the beauty and those elements of
> truth that inform it.  struggling with the worst of Pound is the only way to
> see the best of Pound, a process that one can only hope will eventually
> inform the understanding of En Lin Wei.  I have found this process to be
> personally rewarding, and I see no reason why one should deny it to young
> people of today, particularly because of the current social/political
> conditions.
>
> joe brennan....
>
> In a message dated 05/26/2000 11:54:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> <<
>  Yes. I've been reading the poem for about 45 years -- starting over a
>  decade before my political views changed rather radically. And once
>  the poem has bitten one, it seems impossible not to continue to love
>  it. But under current social/political conditions I could not in honesty
>  recommend to a young person that they devote much time to it. Like
>  some other great epics, it will be easier to admire unreservedly when
>  its ideas are really dead -- which will not, I fear, be soon.
>   >>

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