Mr En Lin Wei has been favouring us with his articles on Pound and China
recently. It is unfortunate that he has not the time to read much published
scholarship, but feels justified in relying aon Carpenter as having the last
word on everything. Unfortunately Carpenter is not reliable as hosts of
Pound scholars have complained.
    I was particularly put off by the following incautious
remark--presumably on Wei' s own authority:

"During this period Pound's moral didacticism started to become intertwined
with his views on race, which were beginning to take strong forms. During
the year 1914, Pound became acquainted with a Jewish writer named Bryher,
who was fairly wealthy.  He asked her for financial aid, and she refused.
The incident fueled Pound's anti-Semitic prejudice, as evidenced by the fact
that, later, reflecting on this brief association Pound wrote that Bryher
had "systematically obstructed, like many of her race, as much of my
activity as possible" (Letter to Patricia Hutchins, British Library, Nov.,
'56).    By the time Pound began writing for Blast, he was using terms like
"race-memory" and groping for a theory of race which could be used to
justify his anti-semitism and other prejudices. He would not discover one
until his contact with Frobenius' ideas."

    Pound's anti-Semitism is beyond doubt, but it does no one a service to
fabricate such fantasies as that Pound became an anti-Semite because someone
refused him money. Once he had contracted that sickenss, he attributed
everything he disliked to Jewish conspiratorial activity. The 1956 letter
cannot be accepted as evidence of his views and opinions in 1914.
    I would recommend that Mr. Wei read my new POUND IN PURGATORYon that
subject, as he might well read a host of other books on Pound and his
political, religious, economic, and ideological views. In particular he
should realize that Pound's contact with China was exclusively through
Western sources, all of whom had some particular ax to grind. It is true,
however, that the totalitarian nature of Confucian political thought was
appealing to Pound. It doesn't folllow that he knew much about how Confucian
thought had impacted Chinese political life. Certainly its totalitarian cast
has been perpetuated in Maoist Communism, but Pound cannot be held
accountable for that unfortunate legacy.

Leon Surette
English Dept.
University of Western Ontario
London, Ont.
N6A 3K7