Comments on: Attainted: The Life and Afterlife of Ezra Pound in Italy

By: bella mack

bella mack — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 04:12:32 +0000

Wow this is so cool. I so met Mary during an Italian program in college. I had no idea who she was but glad I have a picture.

By: carol jean

carol jean — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:38:28 +0000

Nice article.

I’ve not finished reading it, but I shall.

Thanks for keeping the spirit of poetry and poets like Pound alive.

Yes, he was controversial. So?

Have you read Pound’s “The River Merchant’s Wife”? It is a gorgeous poem. In an era in which “expositional talking” passes for poetry, it deserves mention.

errata: “who thought that Pound might be [not may be] an American spy” and “the flow of subjects covered was [not were]likely to create confusion].”

By: Eos Karnina

Eos Karnina — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:42:58 +0000

Excellent, well-written article. It gives a good summery of Ezre Pound’s life and works. It makes me recall the old times of my high studies, the critical theories and political debates where no one could know where literature ended or where politics started…..

By: Diane Roberts powell

Diane Roberts powell — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 22:35:16 +0000

I would be terrified–sorry.

By: Diane Roberts powell

Diane Roberts powell — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 22:33:56 +0000

If I met Pound, on the other side, I would very terrified. I’m afraid that I really wouldn’t want to wander into the bowels of hell, with him acting as my guide.

By: NOTAS DE SIMPLES LEMBRANÇA, # 68. « NO EXTREMO OCIDENTE

NOTAS DE SIMPLES LEMBRANÇA, # 68. « NO EXTREMO OCIDENTE — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 23:55:12 +0000

[...] IX. Sob a guarda americana: [...]

By: Robert Wheeler todd

Robert Wheeler todd — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:40:49 +0000

I woke out of a dream this morning and the name Ezra Pound crossed my mind. I wondered if he had children. And he does; Mary, only six years older than I am. Well, I got onto the web and Googled from about six until ten and read a lot about Ezra. He is one, of so many, I wish to meet on the other side.
As for his writing: he quotes the nun in the hospital in Genoa, who asks him—you know, one had to fill out “religion,” one’s religion on those papers—and he says “Confucian.” And she, of course, doesn’t know what that is, and ends up saying: “È tutta una religione.” And in “Drafts and Fragments,” he writes, “God of all men, none excluded.” Those are the religious strong points: love. God is love. “God is that one man love another.” These are lines in the Cantos. They get sort of swept under the carpet. The comment here during Mary’s interview “’God of all men, none excluded’” makes me think way in the back of his mind he thought about ultimate reconciliation which I believe is a fact. Google my name and think for yourself. God does have His plan for all.

By: Diane Roberts Powell

Diane Roberts Powell — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:55:13 +0000

Oops, I meant scrawled.

By: Diane Roberts Powell

Diane Roberts Powell — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 06:02:55 +0000

Ezra’s dead. Good and dead. Deader than a door-knob.

He should have used the toilet paper he scawled the Pisan Cantos on to wipe his ass.

By: Pound for pound. | Who Killed Lemmy Caution?

Pound for pound. | Who Killed Lemmy Caution? — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 05:21:16 +0000

[...] I am short on sleep today, but there is this lengthy introductory article to Ezra Pound over here. [via Open Letters Monthly] I found the article a fun read, and I’m not even sure I like [...]

By: » Is Mo Yan a Stooge for the Chinese Government? Rectified.name 正名

» Is Mo Yan a Stooge for the Chinese Government? Rectified.name 正名 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:38:56 +0000

[...] Eliot was a stone-cold anti-semite. Ezra Pound was a fascist-sympathizer who spent the end of WWII in a cage. Roald Dahl was mean to just about everybody. If we’re willing to accept The Waste Land and [...]

By: Systemic Disorder

Systemic Disorder — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:12:15 +0000

I think Ernest Hemingway put it well, above:

“Pound ‘ought to go to the loony bin, which he rates and you can pick out the parts in his cantos at which he starts to rate it… He deserves punishment and disgrace, but what he really deserves is ridicule.’ ”

I’ve found Pound to be over-rated as a poet, and his fascism and anti-Semitism ought not be as brushed over as lightly as this otherwise very interesting article does. Pound may have been a fool and he unquestionably was ignorant, but the record of the fascism he espoused can’t be excused.

It also deeply sad that the political lunacy propagated by Pound is not that far off from what is promoted by Ron Paul followers. We do seem to learn little from history. As for Pound, he should be judged as a poet and as a human being; doing so on the latter is not “knee-jerk” as a commenter above asserts but rather re-asserting our collective humanity.

By: R. A. Rubin

R. A. Rubin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 02:34:14 +0000

This is riddled with factual errors. Pound was married in 1914, not 1908, and was released from St. Elizabeth’s in 1958, not 1968, etc., etc. Such obvious (and easily checked) errors call into question the competence and judgement of the writer.

By: Intellectuals & Artists In Politics « the coffee philosopher

Intellectuals & Artists In Politics « the coffee philosopher — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:39:45 +0000

[...] was reading this article about Pound’s relationship with Mussolini and the impression is that Pound was roundly duped [...]

By: Tess Elliott

Tess Elliott — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 04:46:05 +0000

Great talent never ever meant great character, and I tend to view the great rogues of the arts as holy fools, much like the Native American concept of the holy clown. The talent is transcending, erudite and magnificent but the fool it lives in makes him almost a sideshow freak. I also remember reading about Olga and how the Rylands almost walked off with a priceless collection. Glad it got settled, so the scholars could start to work on that massive collection of wonders and craziness. People will be trying to figure it all out a hundred years from now. Not a bad legacy.

By: When the mind swings by a grass-blade « The Floating Library

When the mind swings by a grass-blade « The Floating Library — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:51:56 +0000

[...] Ezra Pound, Cantos Rate this:Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterStumbleUponDiggRedditPrintLike this:LikeBe the first to [...]

By: The Stewart-O’Reilly battle, Thomas Jefferson’s moose and other random stuff | Sense and Snarkability

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:20:53 +0000

[...] If you’re an Ezra Pound fan, set aside some time and read this. [...]

By: Bookmarks of the Week: From Kafka to Fatwa | Portable Homeland

Bookmarks of the Week: From Kafka to Fatwa | Portable Homeland — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:40:13 +0000

[...] On Ezra Pound in Italy by Luciano Mangiafico, from Open Letters Monthly [...]

By: gulcin

gulcin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:24:36 +0000

why do peolpe who enjoy reading poetry must confess there un objective point”s of there wordly view of in most critical way ? some of you voice opinions , some of you dont even understand while others dealing with its existentialisms ….
most of us live in small existence , so did EZRA POUND . EZRA’s world was under centalized microscope , so called most democratic new world America and there Americans . i guess what i am trying to say is his world was very real poetically, and politicly had of his time ….

By: gulcin

gulcin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:57:58 +0000

this is one of the best and complete historical treasure
i have read . thank you for the pound for pound it was delicious!!!