I sympathize with Tim Redman's plea to wait until publication, thank him
for flying the kite and wish him the best with finishing the biography. In
a sense the abstract discussion of approaches to the author's mental
condition is unsatisfying without the closely argued evidence and case.
There's not enough to go on. However, I would also want to take Daniel
Pearlman's points concerning the vexed relations of lives and works. It
might be an issue - if the bi-polar diagnosis turns out to be convincing -
of whether the condition found the poetry or the poetry the condition. If
one thinks of what William Empson, for one, said about the vatic state (I
can't remember where), then mental imbalance is a hazard of the occupation
- 'goes with the territory' - and whether there is biological
predisposition or not, may wilfully be triggered, or at least not
sufficiently avoided. One could also think of 'traditions' of melancholia
accompanying the creative act (vide in visul art Margot and Rudolph
Wittkower, Born Under Saturn, or Beckett's preoccupation with Burton's
Melancholia) - 'traditions' that do not operate on creative artists in all
other cultures - and in view of the fragmentary aspect of visual Cubism
(perhaps also of the 'Modern condition') perhaps one would not want, or
only want, to associate the discontinuities (or obsessive continuities) of
the Cantos with the individual author's mental condition. Genetically,
there are said to be many more schizophrenics than those who manifest
symptoms, though I'm told the jury is still out on that one.
Richard Read
>Dan,
>
> Let's wait until I finish the biography before we discuss
>what I'm doing -- I won't entirely know myself until I finish.
>
> Tim
>
>On Tue, 27 Oct 1998 18:02:46 -0500 Daniel Pearlman
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Tim,
>>
>> In an earlier posting you seemed to indicate that you were
>> confining your study of the effects of this disorder to the
>> life, rather than using your psychological conclusions to
>> try to cast light on the work. I wonder if it is logically
>> possible to walk this fine line. If, for example, someone
>> were to prove pretty conclusively that Pound was clinically
>> insane from, let's say, 1935 to 1945, wouldn't that necessitate
>> a re-reading of all he wrote during that period?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> ==Dan P
>>
>> At 01:28 PM 10/27/98 -0600, you wrote:
>> >I see clear indications of it starting in the '30s, and some signs as
>> >early as the 'teens, though that is more difficult to document.
>> >
>> > Tim
>> >
>> >On Mon, 26 Oct 1998 11:42:47 -0500 Daniel Pearlman
>> ><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Tim,
>> >>
>> >> Are you referring to a disorder that shaped Pound's behavior
>> >> all through his life or only for a certain period?
>> >>
>> >> ==Dan P
>> >>
>> >> At 10:11 AM 10/26/98 -0600, you wrote:
>> >> >It shaped his behavior.
>> >> >
>> >> >On Mon, 26 Oct 1998 10:42:52 -0500 Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Tim Redman,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Let's assume, arguendo, that the diagnosis of 'bipolar disorder'
>> >> >> is on the money. Is it your contention that the mental aberration
>> >> >> shaped Pound's art? His behavior? If the former, are there other
>> >> >> artists from whose texts one can reach similar diagnoses? And is
>> >> >> their art in any way like Pound's? I'm wondering where you have
>> >> >> taken or intend to take the diagnosis. I'm curious also if you
>> >> >> pass Pound's use of multiple "voices" through this filter.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Tim Romano
>> >> >
>> >> >Tim Redman
>> >> >School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31
>> >> >University of Texas at Dallas
>> >> >P.O. Box 830688
>> >> >Richardson, TX 75083-0688
>> >> >
>> >> >(972) 883-2775 (o)
>> >> >(972) 883-2989 (fax)
>> >> >
>> >> Dan Pearlman Office: Department of English
>> >> 102 Blackstone Blvd. #5 University of Rhode Island
>> >> Providence, RI 02906 Kingston, RI 02881
>> >> Tel.: 401 453-3027 Tel.: 401 874-4659
>> >> email: [log in to unmask] Fax: 401 874-2580
>> >
>> >Tim Redman
>> >School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31
>> >University of Texas at Dallas
>> >P.O. Box 830688
>> >Richardson, TX 75083-0688
>> >
>> >(972) 883-2775 (o)
>> >(972) 883-2989 (fax)
>> >
>> Dan Pearlman Office: Department of English
>> 102 Blackstone Blvd. #5 University of Rhode Island
>> Providence, RI 02906 Kingston, RI 02881
>> Tel.: 401 453-3027 Tel.: 401 874-4659
>> email: [log in to unmask] Fax: 401 874-2580
>
>Tim Redman
>School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31
>University of Texas at Dallas
>P.O. Box 830688
>Richardson, TX 75083-0688
>
>(972) 883-2775 (o)
>(972) 883-2989 (fax)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Richard Read Email [log in to unmask]
Senior Lecturer
School of Architecture and Fine Arts
The University of Western Australia
Nedlands WA 6009 Tel +61 8 9380 2140
Australia Fax 8 9380 1082
|
