I can't help you on the subject of The Solitary Volcano, as I haven't read it. Perhaps though you and others would be interested to know (if you don't know already) that there is a new Pound biography in the course of being prepared by Professor Moody at York University. Since I know this only because it has been announced ("Not yet available") on amazon.co.uk I can't tell you anything about it except that I would expect it to be well worth reading. If Professor Moody can hear us, I wonder whether he'd care to tell us something to whet our appetites? I'd be interested to know what people think of Carpenter's biography. I approached it with some trepidation after reading Geoffrey Hill's savage review of it in Agenda but actually I think it is very good. Hill's main complaints are that it is too long and that Carpenter doesn't understand what is involved in writing poetry. So far as length is concerned I think the last third or so of the book is diffuse and could have been pruned down a little but on the whole there is not all that much information I would regard as irrelevant or uninteresting. As for Carpenter's understanding of poetry, it is true that he contributes little of his own to the critical appreciation of Pound's poetry. But in some ways I think it is a good thing to be able to read a biography written by someone who is neither a Poundian nor a literary critic. On balance I think I prefer Stock but Carpenter certainly adds many things I didn't know before and which I am glad to know. Hill singles out for modest praise the section on the "trial". This is indeed well worth reading, even by those who don't have the time or inclination to plough through the whole thing. Richard Edwards >From: Robert Yunk <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine > <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Tytell's _Solitary Volcano_ >Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 22:54:58 -0400 > >John Tytell's _Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano_ New York: Anchor, 1987. > >Does anyone have an opinion of this biography they'd care to share? I've >read Carpenter's _Serious Character_ and Wilhelm's _Pound 1908-1925_... > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com