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Reply To: | A. David Moody |
Date: | Tue, 30 May 2000 15:55:07 -0700 |
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En Lin Wei is given to making statements of unlimited reference, i.e. having
no specific reference, and so impossible to engage with. But near the end
of a posting on 29 May he wrote: 'I believe rule should be by law and by
elected officials (and not by ONE MAN, "i jen" as Pound believes'. This one
can check out.
It connects with a series of five citations in "Section: Rock-Drill" of a
"Shou King" axiom that 'the glory and tranquillity of the state may arise
from the excellence of one man'. (Cp. canto 13.) [See 85/547, 86/563,
89/600, 94/639, 95/644 - o.s. refs. as in Terrell's "Companion".] In
itself, even more in the contexts in "Rock-Drill", the phase does not mean
what En Lin Wei takes it to mean.
"The Cantos" are a totality, and in that sense totalitarian. It is a sense
wholly opposed to the imposition of single-minded ideas, and to taking
fragments out of context. In general, poets do seem to have a better sense
of how to read them than critics. But then critics seem all too often not
to have their eye on the poetry.
David Moody
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