TheCambridgeIntroductionto Ezra Pound EzraPoundisoneofthemostvisibleandinfluentialpoetsofthe twentiethcentury.Heisalsooneofthemostcomplex,hispoetry containinghistoricalandmythicalallusions,experimentsofformand styleandoftencontroversialpoliticalviews.YetPound’slifeandwork continuetofascinate.ThisIntroductionisdesignedtohelpstudents readingPoundforthefirsttime.PoundscholarIraB.Nadelprovidesa guidetotherichwebsofallusionandstylisticborrowingsand innovationsinPound’swriting.HeoffersaclearoverviewofPound’s life,works,contextsandreceptionhistoryandofhismultidimensional careerasapoet,translator,critic,editor,anthologistandimpresario,a careerthatplacedhimattheheartofliterarymodernism.This invaluableandaccessibleintroductionexplainsthehugecontribution Poundmadetothedevelopmentofmodernismintheearlytwentieth century. ira b. nadel isProfessorofEnglishattheUniversityofBritish Columbia.HeistheeditorofTheCambridgeCompaniontoEzraPound (1999). Cambridge Introductions to Literature Thisseriesisdesignedtointroducestudentstokeytopicsandauthors. Accessibleandlively,theseintroductionswillalsoappealtoreaderswho wanttobroadentheirunderstandingofthebooksandauthorstheyenjoy. (cid:1) Idealforstudents,teachers,andlecturers (cid:1) Concise,yetpackedwithessentialinformation (cid:1) Keysuggestionsforfurtherreading Titlesinthisseries: EricBulson TheCambridgeIntroductiontoJamesJoyce JohnXirosCooper TheCambridgeIntroductiontoT.S.Eliot KirkCurnutt TheCambridgeIntroductiontoF.ScottFitzgerald JanetteDillon TheCambridgeIntroductiontoEarlyEnglishTheatre JanetteDillon TheCambridgeIntroductiontoShakespeare’sTragedies JaneGoldman TheCambridgeIntroductiontoVirginiaWoolf KevinJ.Hayes TheCambridgeIntroductiontoHermanMelville DavidHoldeman TheCambridgeIntroductiontoW.B.Yeats M.JimmieKillingsworth TheCambridgeIntroductiontoWaltWhitman RonanMcDonald TheCambridgeIntroductiontoSamuelBeckett WendyMartin TheCambridgeIntroductiontoEmilyDickinson PeterMessent TheCambridgeIntroductiontoMarkTwain JohnPeters TheCambridgeIntroductiontoJosephConrad SarahRobbins TheCambridgeIntroductiontoHarrietBeecherStowe MartinScofield TheCambridgeIntroductiontotheAmericanShortStory EmmaSmith TheCambridgeIntroductiontoShakespeare PeterThomson TheCambridgeIntroductiontoEnglishTheatre,1660–1900 JanetTodd TheCambridgeIntroductiontoJaneAusten JenniferWallace TheCambridgeIntroductiontoTragedy The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound IRA B. NADEL CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521853910 © Ira B. Nadel 2007 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. 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Contents Preface page vii Noteonthetext viii Listofabbreviations ix Chapter 1 Life 1 Chapter 2 Context 19 Chapter 3 Works 38 Poetryto1920 38 TheCantos 63 Prose 85 Chapter 4 Critical reception 106 Notes 130 Guidetofurtherreading 134 Index 138 v Preface “My eyes are geared for the horizon,” Ezra Pound wrote in 1938 (Guide to Kulchur55).It’satellingremarksuggestingthebreadthandvisionofhiswork, whetherinpoetryorprose.Hethoughtbig,althoughhearguedforconcrete details.Hepromotedlargeideasbutworkedinpieces:hislongopus,TheCantos, spanningsomefifty-twoyearsofconstruction.Andhealwaysurged,cajoled andpushed–somewouldsaydumped–hisideasonthepublic.Buthenever said“enough”orgaveupevenwhenchallengedbyeditors,fellowwriters,or governments.Thisintroductiontohislifeandworkpresentsthemanyfacets of Pound, who possessed a kind of binocular vision, able to look out to the horizonatthesametimethathesawwhatwasimmediatelyinfrontofhim. Heknewthat“languageismadeoutofconcretethings”butthatauniversal viewwasnecessary.Inonesensehisprogramwassimple–“ifamanwritesix good lines he is immortal – isn’t that worth trying for?” – but in another it wascomplexashesoughttobecome“fraimaestridicolorchesanno,”aphrase heexpandsas“masterofthosethatcutapart,dissectanddivide.Competent precursorofthecard-index”(SL49,12;GuidetoKulchur343). Manyhaveassistedwiththe“cardindexes”ofthisprojectandIthankthem, beginningwithRayRyan,apatient,impatient,encouragingand,whenneces- sary,anadmonitoryeditor;AnneMacKenzie,supportandguide,whoknows thedifferencebetweenclarityandconfusion;DaraandRyan,mychildren,who constantlyencouragedmenotonlyto“makeitnew,”butmakeitshort.And finally,thosemyriadPoundianswhohavechartedthewatersbeforemesothat Imaysafelynavigatebetweentheoftenfoggyshores. vii Note on the text TheCambridgeIntroductiontoEzraPoundprovidesasystematicapproachto understandingthelife,context,workandreceptionofthismajormodernist. Following a survey of Pound’s life which took him from the American West to Philadelphia, Venice, London, Paris and Rapallo, and introduced him to figureslikeYeats,JoyceandT.S.Eliot,isasectionon“Context.”Thisexplores how Pound’s efforts to “MAKE IT NEW” coincided with original work in music, art and literature occurring throughout Europe and North America, from1909/10,–whenPound’sPersonae,Stravinsky’sFirebirdballetandHenri Matisse’s The Dance all appeared – to 1969, when Pound published the final volumeofTheCantos,SamuelBeckettwontheNobelPrizeforLiteratureand Claes Oldenburg completed his pop-art sculpture, Lipstick (Ascending). The volumethentracestheevolutionofPound’swritingfromhisearliestattempts tothelastCantos.Prose,aswellaspoetryandtranslations,comprisethissec- tionwhichalsoshowshowhisaestheticprinciplesandinvolvementwithsuch movementsasImagismandVorticismrelatetohiswriting.Pound’smusicand art criticism are also discussed. Attention to important individual texts like “SestinaAltaforte,”“HomagetoSextusPropertius”andHughSelwynMauber- leyprecedeadiscussionofPound’slife-timework,TheCantos.Brokendown into units Pound himself designated – the “Malatesta Cantos,” the “Chinese Cantos,”the“Jefferson–AdamCantos,”“ThePisanCantos”–isananalysisof themultiplestructure,themesandlanguageofTheCantos. Pound’s contested politics and economics are also addressed, noting the influencesanddetourstheypresentedtohisliteraryachievement.Thecontro- versialradiobroadcastshemadebetween1941and1943fromFascistItalyare alsodiscussed,aswellashissearchforheroes,whichdrewhimtoConfucius, ThomasJefferson,JohnAdamsandMussolini.ThecriticalreceptionofPound andhiswaveringreputationconcludethebookwithanassessmentofhiscon- tributionto,andredefinitionof,modernism.Aguidetofurtherreadingassists thestudentinpursuingthelifeandworkofPound.ReferencestoTheCantos, Pound’smajorwork,aretoCantonumberandpagenumberinthethirteenth printingbyNewDirectionsin1995.Thecitationfor“MAKEITNEW”appears asLIII/265. viii Abbreviations ABCR EzraPound,ABCofReading.[1934.]NewYork:NewDirections, 1960. AV W.B.Yeats,AVision.NewYork:Macmillan,1961. CAD EzraPound,ClassicAnthologyasDefinedbyConfucius.[1954.] London:FaberandFaber,1974. CC ConfuciustoCummings,AnAnthologyofPoetry.Ed.EzraPound andMarcellaSpann.NewYork:NewDirections,1964. CCEP TheCambridgeCompaniontoEzraPound.Ed.IraB.Nadel. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1999. CEP EzraPound,CollectedEarlyPoemsofEzraPound.Ed.Michael JohnKing.NewYork:NewDirections,1976. CRH EzraPound,TheCriticalHeritage.Ed.EricHomberger.London: Routledge&KeganPaul,1972. END H.D.[HildaDoolittle],EndtoTorment,AMemoirofEzraPound. NewYork:NewDirections,1979. EP/BC EzraPound,EzraPoundandSenatorBronsonCutting:APolitical Correspondence1930–1935.Ed.E.P.WalkiewiczandHugh Witemeyer.Albuquerque,NM:UniversityofNewMexicoPress, 1995. EPE TheEzraPoundEncyclopedia.Ed.DemetresTryphonopoulosand StephenJ.Adams.Westport,CT:GreenwoodPress,2005. EPEW EzraPound,EarlyWritings,PoemsandProse.Ed.Ira.B.Nadel. NewYork:Penguin,2005. EP/JL EzraPound,EzraPoundandJamesLaughlin,SelectedLetters.Ed. DavidM.Gordon.NewYork:W.W.Norton,1994. EPM [T.S.Eliot],“EzraPound:HisMetricandPoetry,”toCriticizethe CriticandOtherWritings.NewYork:FarrarStraussGiroux,1965. 162–82. EPPT EzraPound,PoemsandTranslations.Ed.RichardSieburth.New York:LibraryofAmerica,2003. ix