I agree with Bill Wagner on this and would like to see (and hear)
some debate on this issue. It has always been one of the major
stumbling blocks for me... Pound's politics vs Pound's poetics and
sense of the beautiful. I realise there are some Jewish writers who
knew him (Louis Zukowsky, for example) who never felt that he
came across - in their presence - as anti-Semitic. Still, it is a
strange occupation for a man who seemed to care so much
about the exactness of language, and who had no qualms about
lumping all Jews in with the Rothschilds, etc.  It is not an in-
consistency that should EVER be ignored!
 
Re: the castle... yes, he did live there with his daughter and
with Olga during his final years. That was where he went
when he came "home" after his release from the bug-house
(or so I remember).
 
 
Stoneking
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Wagner <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 1999 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: Pound's castle
 
 
> I thought EP lived at the castle with his daughter, but I can't confirm
> that, or the dates, or even what rewards might have been offered Pound
> for his services to the Axis.  And I don't mean that to be snide or
> sarcastic.  There was a war on, and people were dying in unprecedented
> numbers, and EP was being broadcast on radio controlled by the Italian
> government.  In an earlier posting it was suggested that EP was
> excercising his rights udner the US Constitution, which seems to me an
> indefensible premise. When you go over to the other side during a war,
> you would seem to forfeit some constitutional protections.
>
> Pound was giving voice to some of the arguments used by Hitler and other
> anti-Semites to justify the extermination of millions of people. He
> condemned the US war effort repeatedly. His conduct would heave almost
> certainly been judged treason -- and he face possible execution -- had
> he not been judged insane and committed to St. Elizabeth's.
>
> It could be argued that his radio broadcasts did not sway anyone or in
> any way bolster the Axis efforts.  That might mitigate his crime, but
> not excuse it entirely.  He was a great poet... not a great patriot.
>
> Bill Wagner
>
>
>
> Jane Morrison wrote:
> >
> > Dear Bill,
> >         I didn't understand your reference to Pound's castle as a reward
> > for support of fascism. Was Brunnenberg given to him by Mussolini or
> > something like that? I always thought it belonged to his son-in-law.
> >         It's good to have a fellow hack to counter the impossible
> > professors.
> >
> > Cheers.
> > Paul Montgomery
> > Lausanne, Switzerland
>