Thanks for this, Sarah - the wartime dateline, the legalistic concerns
and the renunciation of "childish weakness"(!) all tell their story
and make this a really telling document. I'm just glad that JL, like
BB, felt in his way moved to challenge EP. Any more offers of
*pre-war* challenges? RC 
 
On Fri, 22 Oct 1999 13:41:27 +0100, you wrote:
 
>Richard Caddel wrote:
>My question is: who else from the poetry world, apart from BB, was calling
>Pound wrong in such unequivocal terms, in 1938?
>
>Well, since you ask...
>'I think antisemitism is contemptible and despicable and I will not put my
>hand to it. I cannot tell you how it grieves me to see you taking up with
>it. It is vicious and mean. I do not for one minute believe that it is
>solely the Jews who are responsible for the maintenance of the unjust money
>systems. They may have their part in it, but it is just as much, and more,
>the work of Anglo-Saxons and celts and goths and what have you. Now I dare
>say that will make you mad with me, but there's how it is. Furthermore, in
>regard to the Cantos I will not print anything that can be fairly construed
>as an outright attack on the Jews and I want that in the contract in the
>libel clause. [...] I have at various times let myself slip into
>anti-semitic utterances but I'm ashamed of it and renounce them. It was a
>childish weakness. Everyone has in them a bit of a desire to hurt people, to
>kick the guy who is down. This is something to be squelched in a person's
>nature and I hope and intend to do so [...]'
>- James Laughlin to Ezra Pound, Dec 5, 1939
>(Pound/Laughlin Letters, ed. D. Gordon, pub. by Norton, 1994, pp. 108-9)
>
>Okay, the letter is from 1939, but I think it's pretty unequivocal and I
>thought the list might find it interesting alongside the Buntin quote.
>
>Sarah Graham