I can't help you on the subject of The Solitary Volcano, as I haven't read
it. Perhaps though you and others would be interested to know (if you don't
know already) that there is a new Pound biography in the course of being
prepared by Professor Moody at York University. Since I know this only
because it has been announced ("Not yet available") on amazon.co.uk I can't
tell you anything about it except that I would expect it to be well worth
reading. If Professor Moody can hear us, I wonder whether he'd care to tell
us something to whet our appetites?
 
I'd be interested to know what people think of Carpenter's biography. I
approached it with some trepidation after reading Geoffrey Hill's savage
review of it in Agenda but actually I think it is very good. Hill's main
complaints are that it is too long and that Carpenter doesn't understand
what is involved in writing poetry. So far as length is concerned I think
the last third or so of the book is diffuse and could have been pruned down
a little but on the whole there is not all that much information I would
regard as irrelevant or uninteresting. As for Carpenter's understanding of
poetry, it is true that he contributes little of his own to the critical
appreciation of Pound's poetry. But in some ways I think it is a good thing
to be able to read a biography written by someone who is neither a Poundian
nor a literary critic. On balance I think I prefer Stock but Carpenter
certainly adds many things I didn't know before and which I am glad to know.
 
Hill singles out for modest praise the section on the "trial". This is
indeed well worth reading, even by those who don't have the time or
inclination to plough through the whole thing.
 
Richard Edwards
 
 
 
 
>From: Robert Yunk <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
>  <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Tytell's _Solitary Volcano_
>Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 22:54:58 -0400
>
>John Tytell's _Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano_ New York: Anchor, 1987.
>
>Does anyone have an opinion of this biography they'd care to share?  I've
>read Carpenter's _Serious Character_ and Wilhelm's _Pound 1908-1925_...
>
 
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