At 03:54 PM 6/10/00 -0400, Burt Hatlen wrote: >Hugh Kenner (no "New Critic" he) really did open up the question of >what makes this poem unique. Unfortunately, at the same time, his own >political/social predelictions made him unwilling to talk abour Pound's >fascism and anti-semitism. The critical debate will be banal and >unproductive until we can talk about the retrograde social and >political views AND the astonishing inventiveness of the poetry, AT >THE SAME TIME. > I cheer. And while I'm cheering, I wonder whether anyone can verify my memory of an appearance by Kenner on William F. Buckley's _Firing Line_ some time around 1974. After a quarter of a century my memory must have slipped, but I must say the memory of one exchange is indelible. It went something like this. BUCKLEY: Was Pound a Fascist? KENNER: No. BUCKLEY: Henri Peyre says he was a Fascist. KENNER: Henri Peyre writes for _The New York Times Book Review_. That was vintage Kenner: devastatingly witty, deeply sensitive to value, and as evasive as an F-117. But do I have the words right? Jonathan Morse