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Date: | Sat, 16 Oct 1999 12:06:59 -0400 |
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Dear Mohandas,
I appreciate your thoughtful reply. In your posting, which
I copy below, I single out this segment for the moment:
"My case is that EP's Muss. is a Dionysus-figure as well,
>conceived in terms of Greco-Roman paganism. Such a political formation is
>anti-Judaic in spirit and this endows Pound's anti-Semitism with a
>structural and political function."
It seems to me that Pound's paganism should be as much anti-Christian
as anti-Judaic. Why he chose to hate *preferentially* is another
issue entirely.
==Dan
At 08:26 PM 10/16/98 +0500, you wrote:
>Dear Dan,
>
>I 'm afraid I didn't make it clear enough. I do not hold that Pound's
>anti-Semitism stems directly from a reaction against the strictures in The
>Torah. However, his thought lands him in a position that can rationalize
>and use race-prejudice to consolidate itself.
>
>Pound's interest in Greek knowledge/practice (Eleusis in particular) is far
>more than thematic. I read it as an interest in a mode of perception and
>representation, which are fundamentally similar to his own. The Muss. of
>the Cantos, for instance, is a product of this mode. The Torah forbids
>such perception and thus EP's "suburban prejudice" acquires a new
>dimension. What he inherited from the cultural milieu in which he grew up
>becomes a convenient tool in the specific Hellenic context of his mature
>thought. My case is that EP's Muss. is a Dionysus-figure as well,
>conceived in terms of Greco-Roman paganism. Such a political formation is
>anti-Judaic in spirit and this endows Pound's anti-Semitism with a
>structural and political function. That is, Pound has a valid political
>reason for attacking Jewish texts--possibly without reading them thoroughly
>though I have not been able to verify that.
>
>Maybe I'm a bit too preoccupied with this issue bec. I have the current
>Indian context in mind. What prevails here appears to be similar to the
>German situation in the 30s. The basic patterns have a lot in common, to
>the extent that here too, a Semitic religion is on the receiving end.
>However, to elaborate on it would mean a thoroughly political discussion
>and this doesn't seem to be the right place for it.
>
>Mohandas C. Bhaskaran
><[log in to unmask]>
>
Dan Pearlman Office: Department of English
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Providence, RI 02906 Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 453-3027 Tel.: 401 874-4659
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