Ezra Pound: Politics, Economics and Writing: A Study of The Cantos

274 Pages·1984·24.734 MB·English

by  Peter Nicholls (auth.)

PETER NICHOLLS
EZRA POUND
POLITICS, ECONOMICS
AND WRITING
EZRA POUND:
POLITICS, ECONOMICS
AND WRITING
MACMILLAN STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
Elizabeth Allen
A WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE NOVELS OF HENRYJAMES
Robert Clark
HISTORY, IDEOLOGY AND MYTH IN AMERICAN
FICTION, 1823-52
Peter Nicholls
EZRA POUND: POLITICS, ECONOMICS AND WRITING
Further titles in preparation
EZRA POUND:
POLITICS, ECONOMICS
AND WRITING
A Study of The Cantos
Peter Nicholls
M
MACMILLAN
e PeterNicholls 1984
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition1984
Previously unpublishedextractsfromletters
by Ezra Poundin theYaleCollection
©1984by theTrusteesofthe EzraPound
LiteraryPropertyTrust
©Translationsby PeterNicholls1984
Allrightsreserved.No partofthis publication
may bereproducedor transmitted,inanyform
orby any means,withoutpermission
Firstpublished1984by
THE MACMILLANPRESSLTD
LondonandBasingstoke
Companiesandrepresentatives
throughouttheworld
TypesetinGreatBritainby
STYLESETLTD,Salisbury,Wiltshire
BritiahLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Nicholls,Peter
EzraPound.
1.Pound,Ezra. Cantos,The
1.Title
811'.52 PS353I.082CZ
ISBN978-1-349-06968-2 ISBN978-1-349-06966-8(eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06966-8
Presentmy Compliments to MissLane.
(Canto em)
Contents
Acknowledgements
IX
A Note on the Text
Xl
Introduction 1
1 The Emergence ofthe Economic Theme 20
I The impact ofEconomic Democracy 20
II Economics in the first thirty Cantos 30
2 The Quarrel with Marxism 47
I Pound, Gold, andNew Masses 47
II Pound and Capital 51
3 Knowledge and Action 60
I Pound's medievalism and 'the struggle for
clear definition' 60
II Myth and the practical intelligence 69
4 Pound and Fascism 79
I Pound, the Left, and the fascist reforms 79
II Pound's conservatism 87
III Ideology and authority 94
5 A Metaphysics ofthe State 104
I Ethics and obligation 104
II Pound's China 112
III The Adams Cantos and the eclipse ofreason 125
6 'The Toxicology ofMoney' 138
I Pound's later economic theories 138
II A pattern ofobsessions 151
Vll
viii Contents
7 Thinking in Essences: 'The Pisan Cantos' 161
I 'To dream the Republic' 161
II The power ofmemory 170
8 Beyond Fortune 182
I The sublunary sphere 182
II Functions ofthe ideogram 193
9 The Inscriptions ofAuthority 202
I The 'domination of benevolence' 202
II Money as writing 212
Notes 222
Index 256
Acknowledgements
This book originated in a doctoral dissertation for the
University of Cambridge. The supervisor of that project
J.
was H. Prynne of Gonville and Caius College, and it is a
pleasure to have an opportunity to thank him formally for
the guidance and encouragement which he has given me. It
has been a privilege indeed to have had the benefit of his
extensive knowledge of Pound's work and of the related
areas with which this study deals. I am also grateful to Paul
Edwards and Alan Sinfield, both ofwhom were kind enough
to read the entire manuscript and to make many valuable
suggestions. Other friends have read sections of the book or
have given advice on specific problems; my thanks to David
Morse, Andrew Crozier, Steve Burman, Michael Rosenthal
and Norris Nash.Ifany errors of fact orinterpretationremain
the responsibility is mine. The same applies to all translations
from foreign languages which, unless otherwise indicated,
are my own. Finally, I wish to thank the University ofSussex
for granting me two terms of leave in which to complete the
book, and for making me a generous granttowardpermissions
costs.
Ezra Pound's copyrights have been assigned. Except where
other names are given, all copyrights are in the name of the
Trustees ofthe Ezra Pound Literary Property Trust.
Permission to quote from the following works by Ezra Pound
has been granted by Faber & Faber Ltd, London, and New
Directions Publishing Corp., New York.
The Literary Essays, edited by T. S. Eliot, copyright 1918,
1930, 1935, 1954
Translations, copyright© 1963
IX
x Acknowledgements
The Selected Letters 1907-1941, edited by D. D. Paige,
copyright 1950
Selected Prose 1909-1965, edited by William Cookson,
copyright © 1973
The Cantos of Ezra Pound, copyright 1934, 1937, 1940,
1948, © 1956,1959, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1972
The CollectedShorterPoems (in the United StatesPersonae),
copyright 1926
Impact, edited by Noel Stock, copyright© 1960
Extracts from the following magazines: Poetry, New English
Weekly, New Age, Egoist, Exile, New Masses, Symposium,
New Reuieto, Morada, Pagany, New Democracy, British
Italian Bulletin, Criterion, North American Review,
copyright\© 1984
Extracts from the following Italian periodicals (translated
here by permission): Meridiano di Roma, Rassegna Mone
taria,Broletto, copyright© 1984
Extracts from previously unpublished letters in the Yale
Collection, copyright© 1984
Permission to quote from the following works by Ezra Pound
has been granted by Peter Owen Ltd, London, and New
Directions Publishing Corp., New York.
The Spirit ofRomance, copyright 1910, 1931, 1932
Patria Mia and the Treatise on Harmony, copyright 1950,
© 1962
Guide to Kulchur, copyright 1938, 1952
Translations by Peter Nicholls, copyright © 1984