As I have stated before, I believe that Pound suffered from an undiagnosed manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder. I am pursiuing that hypothesis in my biography. Tim Redman On Tue, 11 Aug 1998 12:00:04 PDT jpg13 <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Re Pound's Mental Illness: > > I wonder if we might move the discussion beyond questions of sanity or > insanity, and into much murkier territory. It seems clear that we can find > evidence of both from throughout Pound's career. The St. Elizabeths > nursing logs recording Pound lying down on the road in the winter and > claiming that he couldn't go on make it sound like depression, and > these days we consider depression a treatable illness, rather than a lifestyle > choice. Is Pound's depression a reaction to his earlier psychotic > periods? Letters from Pound to Olga in the early 1940s, when he was making > broadcasts in Rome, show him constantly exhausted, taking frequent naps, > sleeping long hours--again, it could be a sign of severe depression. > > The question seems to me: what kinds of responsibility accrues to the > language act, either over the radio, or in poetry? Is there a way we can > deal with the most eccentric or extreme of Pound's writing without > putting it in the literary equivalent of an insane asylum? Then again, as > E.P. put it on his arrival in Italy in 1958: "All America is an insane > asylum." > > I for one would welcome the input of medical professionals out there, if > there are any on the list. > > Jonathan Gill > Columbia University Tim Redman School of Arts and Humanities, JO 31 University of Texas at Dallas P.O. Box 830688 Richardson, TX 75083-0688 (972) 883-2775 (o) (972) 883-2989 (fax)