(continued from previous post) Pound had been broadcasting fascist propaganda for several months when, on December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Then he took off about two months time to consider whether he would continue broadcasting against the U.S., which was now a member of the military alliance dedicated to defeating the Tokyo-Berlin-Rome Axis. He suspected continued broadcasts might constitute treason. When he does continue on Jan. 29, 1942, he begins with a reference to the notion of empire. On Arbour Day, Pearl Arbour Day, at 12 o'clock noon, I retired from the capital of the old Roman Empire to seek wisdom from the ancients (Doob, 23). His next thought is of China. I wanted to figure things out. I had a perfectly good alibi, if I wanted to play things safe. I was and am officially occupied with a new translation of the Ta S'eu of Confucius (Doob, 23). This "alibi" was already in print. Time magazine had reported three days earlier that Pound had "retired to continue his study of Chinese philosophy" (Time, Jan. 26, 1942). But his irrepressible dedication to fascism and his belief in empire were too strong by now. One American journalist records, The day of Pearl Harbor, Pound unexpectedly came to our house and told us the war between the United States and Italy was inevitable but that he intended to stay on. [I] told him that he would be a traitor if he did so, and now was the time for him to pipe down about the alleged glories of Fascism. "But I believe in Fascism," said Pound, giving the Fascist salute, "and I want to defend it . . . (Reynolds and Eleanor Packard, Balcony Empire, Chatto & Windus, 1943, 179). Pound also believed in empire and was striving to discover the relevance of his Chinese studies to the crucial political choice he was making. In Canto 53 he had written Empire down in the rise of princes Tçin drave the Tartar, lands of the emperor idle Tcheou tombs fallen in ruin from that year was no order No man was under another 9 Tcheou wd/not stand together were not rods in a bundle. . . (53/271). Nolde informs us that this passage summarizes "the period described by Confucius in the Ch'un Ch'iu (The Spring and Autumn Annals), which is traditionally dated 722 - 481 B.C. . . . The reference to 'rods in a bundle' clearly refers to the symbol of Italian fascism -- the need to work together" (Nolde, 76). Confucius had thoroughly analyzed the disintegration of the Chou empire; and what was needed then, Canto 53 implies, was fascist discipline. In 1942, Pound inverts this logic. Now, what is needed, he thinks, is the study of Confucius' reflections to prevent a breakup of the fascist empire.. In the radio speech of Jan. 29, 1942, he says, I have in Rapallo the text of Confucius, the text of the world's finest anthology, namely that which Confucius compiled from earlier authors. . . I spent a month tryin' to figure things out. . . At any rate, I had a month to make up my mind about some things. I had Confucius and Mencius, both of whom had been up against similar things, Both of whom had seen empires fallin' [emphasis added]. Both of whom had seen deeper into the causes of human confusion than most men ever even think of lookin' (Doob, 24). Later in the same speech, for the sake of Axis solidarity, he goes on to defend the Japanese Noh-plays, which had seemed so childish to him a few months after translating them. Anybody who had read the plays entitled Kumasaka and Kagekiyo would have AVOIDED the sort of bilge printed in Time and the American press, and the sort of fetid imbecility I heard a few nights ago from the British Broadcasting Corporation (Doob, 26). Pound's rededication to the Axis cause leads him to defend the Japanese, whose racial characteristics are being maligned by the enemy. A BBC commentator somewhere about January 8 was telling his presumably music hall audience that the Japs were jackals, and that they had just recently, I think he said, within living men's lifetimes, emerged from barbarism. . . A glance at Japanese sword guards, a glance at Jimmy Whistler's remarks about Hokusai, or, as I indicated a minute ago, a familiarity with the Awoi no Uye, Kumasaka, Nishikigi, or Funa- Benkei. These are Japanese classical plays, and would convince anyone with more sense than a pea-hen, of the degree of Japanese civilization, let alone what they conserved when China was, as Fenellosa put it, incapable of preserving her own heritage. China lettin' Confucius go OUT of the schools for example. Each member of the Axis, it seems, had its assigned task. Japan's was to extend the Empire in Asia in order to preserve the teachings of Confucius. Italy's was to perfect the fascist social system and confer the benefits on its colonies in Africa. Germany's role: to perfect the "breed" and show how racial purity was important in Empire building. Japanese Confucianism, Italian social reform and German eugenics were united only by the collective imperial drive. Pound began to praise Hitler's writings very openly in 1942. On the radio he admits almost sheepishly, "I was behindhand in reading Mein Kampf." Then he asks scoldingly, "but do you know YET what is IN it? Have you a clear idea of the program?" We have a fairly good idea, don't we? ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com