For me, a helpful book to understand Fascism is Karl Popper's _The Open Society_. Please, don't anybody embarrass me by asking what it says. It's a tough read. But very helpful. > -----Original Message----- > From: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of David Centrone > Sent: Thursday, January 21, 1999 7:55 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: > > > I thought this might be relavent: > > I've been doing some reading on Pound in Italy: Hamilton's > _The Appeal of > Fascism_ is an intelligent look at the political and > philosophical climate > of Europe and the contributions made by various intellectuals and > non-intellectuals alike--philosophers, poets, painters and sculptors > included. T. S. Eliot spoke favorably of Sir Oswald Mosley, > a fascists in > Britain; I believe W. B. Yeats actually declared himself a > fascist against > the rising tide of socialism and futurism: two schools of thought and > politics that were focused upon the dismantling of cultural > connections with > the past. One futurist in Italy, Marinetti, wanted to ". . . burn all > gondolas and 'fill the stinking little canals' of Venice > 'with the ruins of > crumbling, leprous palaces' [a widely circulating view at the > time]." The > attitude that I get from most intelligent sources tends to > characterize the > philosophical climate as obviously threatening to > neoclassicists, modernists > like Pound and Wyndham Lewis--its an attitude which seems to > be difficult > for ("20/20") hindsight. Joyce makes an interesting comment: > "Not to like > it [Italy] because of Mussolini would be just as absurd as to > hate England > because of Henry the Eighth"; which is to say that they had a > whole other > attitude over there (in Europe) at all; Americans probably > wouldn't fathom > such an idea at the time. >