----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2000 7:30 PM
Subject: Fw: Re: Futurism
I often
wonder how different the general view of Pound might be today if he'd felt
himself sufficiently at home in Italy (or anywhere) to abandon his US
citizenship and obtain an Italian passport. As far as I can tell his main
reason for supporting the fascists was a desire to end the war - the friends he
lost in WW1 that war in, say, High Selwyn Mauberley, perhaps suggests that he
saw the war as unnecessary and wasteful, the result of a capitalist system
resembling a corrupt communist one, with absolute rulers and corporations
who kept their workers so much in the dark, and offered them a ready-made,
responsibility-free life in return for their money, that they didn't really know
what they were fighting for anyway, and he couldn't bear to see everyone going
back home to the same old lies all over again.
The Futurists
wanted a new artform- they wanted, in Pound's words, to 'make it new'; and,
certainly in the visual arts, their impact has been enormous. The Fascists also
wanted to make it new; as, I suppose, did Hitler. So did Pound; and whereas he
(and, of course, everyone in their right mind (dramatic irony intended))
despised Hitler and perhaps didn't see quite eye to eye with Mussolini on all
things, he did see that the utopian ideals behind Itatian Fascism, while quite
unsupportable, were also, if advanced and supported, likely to bring the war to
a rapid end. After all, Alan Bullock's book Hitler: a study in Tyranny
closes by saying that Hitler's chief aim was to destroy the structure of
Europe and replace it with something new, and that in this, he probably
succeeded.
There was an
article on Italian Futurism in last summer's edition of the UK Poetry Society's
Poetry Review; when I have a chance I'll re-read it to see if there's
anything relevant.
James.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2000 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: Futurism
In The Women Artists of Italian Futurism: Almost Lost To
History
(Midmarch Art Press, 1997), there's a brief mention of
Pound's
admiration for the artist Benedetta (Marinetti's wife).
The
theories & forms of Futurism radicalized twentieth century art --
there
is little 'modern' art from the last century that doesn't
reference Futurism
in some way. Yet Benedetta & Marinetti were quite
public in their
admiration of fascism--if I recall correctly, Benedetta
at one point toured
the country as a spokesmodel for Mussolini's new
'ideal' womanhood.
Yet, seemingly unlike Pound, the Futurists' influence is
frequently
cited without the impulse to make reference to their fascist
politics.
--Rosalie Gancie
C.Brandon Rizzo wrote:
>
> I've been searching for information pertaining to Pound & Futurism
(pref.
> pre-war), but haven't had much luck. Did Pound know those
Futurist fellows at
> all? If anyone could offer some assistance it would
be much appreciated.
>
> --CB
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