L it era ry Lives

Genera l Ed ito r: Richard Dutton, Professor o f English, Lancaster Un iversity

This series offers st im u la t in g accounts of the literary caree rs of the most admiredand influential English-language authors. Volumes foll ow the outline of thewr iter s' working lives, not in the spirit of tr aditional biography, but a im ing totrace the professional, publishing and socia l contexts which sh aped theirwriting.

Published titles include:

Cli nton Ma channMATTHEW ARNOLD

jan FergusJANE AUSTEN

Tom winnifrith and Edward ChithamCHARLOTTE AND EMILY BRONTE

Sarah WoodROBERT BROW NI NG

jan ice Farrar ThaddeusFRANCES BURNEY

Caroli ne FranklinBYRON

Nancy rl . WalkerKATE C HO PIN

Roger SalesJOHN C LARE

Cedric WattsJOS EPH CON RAD

Grahame SmithCHARLES DICKENS

George ParfittJOH N DO NN E

Paul HammondJOH N DRYDEN

Kerry M cSweflleyGEORG E ELIOT

Tony SharpeT.S. ELIOT

Harold PagliaroHENRY FIELDING

Andrew HookF. SCOTT FITZG ERALD

Mary LagoE.M . FO RSTER

Shirley FosterELIZABETH GASKELL

Nell SinyardGRAH AM G REENE

la mes GibsonTHOMAS HARDY

Cris tina MalcolmsonGEOREG E HERBERT

Gerald RobertsGERARD MA NLEY HOPKI NS

Kenneth GrahamHENRY JAM ES

W. David KayeBEN JO NSO N

Phillip M allettRUDYARD KIPLING

j ohn Wo rthenD.H. LAWRENCE

w iiliam GrayROBERT LOU IS STEVENSON

Angela SmithKATH ERINE MANSFIELD

Lisa HopkinsCH RISTO PHER MARLOW E

Cedric C. Brown

JOH N MILTON

Peter DavisonGEO RGE ORWELL

Linda W agner-Ma rti nSYLVIA PLATH

Felicity RosslynALEXANDER POPE

I ra B. Na delEZRA PO UND

Richard DuttonW ILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Joli n W illiamsMARYSHELLEY

M ichael O'Nei llPERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Gary WallerEDMUND SPENSER

Tall)' SharpeWALLACE STEVENS

Joseph McMinnJONATHAN SWIFT

Leonee OrmondALFRED TENNYSO N

Peter Shi l lingsburgW ILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

JolI II MephamVIRGIN IA WOOLF

David Wyk esEVELYN WAUG H

l ohn W ilia msWI LLIAM WO RDSWORTH

Alasdai r V .F. MacraeW .B. YEATS

Literary LivesSeries Stan d in g Order ISBN 0-333-71486-5 hardcoverSeries Standing Order ISBN 0- 333-80334-5 paperback(outside North America only)

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Ezra PoundA Literary Life

Ira B. Nadel

ISBN 978-0-230-37881-0 (eBook)

*© Ira B. Nadel 2004

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of thispublication may be made without written permission.

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First published 2004 byPALGRAVE MACMILLANHoundmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010Companies and representatives throughout the world

PALGRAVEMACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the PalgraveMacmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLCand of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdomand other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the EuropeanUnion and other countries.

ISBN 978-0-333-58257-2

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fullymanaged and sustained forest sources.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNadel, Ira Bruce.

Ezra Pound: a literary life / Ira B. Nadel.p. cm. - (Literary lives)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.ISBN 978-0-333-58256-X (hardback) - ISBN 978-0-333-58257-8 (pbk.)1. Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972. 2. Poets, American-20th century­Biography. 3. Critics-United States-Biography. I. Title.II. Literary lives (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))

PS3531.082Z7582004811 '.52-dc22[B]

2004041502

10 9 813 12 11

7 6 543 2 110 09 08 07 06 05 04

Transferred to digital printing 2005

DOI 10.1057/978-0-230-37881-0

For Dara & RyanWith memories of the castle &Mary, if she wants it

If a man writes six good lines he is immortal- isn't that worth trying for?Ezra Pound, 1912

Yeats used to say I was trying to provide a portable substitute for the BritishMuseum .

Ezra Pound, 1934

I can't say my remarks were heeded. I thought I had got 'em simpleenough. . . . I have, however, never asked for sympathy when misunderstood.I go on trying to make my meanin' clear and then clearer.

Ezra Pound, 1941

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Int roduct ion

viii

ix

'Mas tership at One Leap': 1885-1 908 7

2 'My Music is Your Disha rmo ny ': 1908- 14 33

3 'The Nob le Cres ted Screamer' : 1914 - 20 67

4 'Bring Orde r to Your Surroundings': 1920-29 89

5 'The Indiffe ren t Never Make History' : 1930-40 117

6 'Noth in ' Undecided ': Rome , Pisa, Washingto n, 1940-58 144

7 'The European Mind Stops ': Drafts , Fragments andSilen ces, 1958-72 173

No~s 195

Wo rks Cited 203

Ind ex 207

vii

Acknowledgements

Man y have assisted with this project , not all of them Poundian s. InVancouve r, John X. Cooper proved a willing ear for many fan cifulnotions, while Keith Alldritt offered stim ulating conversati ons andco ntroversial views of Pound 's life an d work, as well as detail s abo utvisits to the 'Hidden Nest. ' Ram ona Montagn es ch allenge d, correcte d andco nsis ten tly argued for the n eed to be co ncise. Pound 's 'Make it New'foun d coge nt restatement in 'Make it Short. ' My children , Dara an dRyan , aided in numerous ways, not th e least in being willing travelers toBrunnenburg and courageou s in con fron ting the crow. Anne MacKen zieprovided new direction , and encourageme nt at a tim e wh en it was mostwelco me d . In New York, Glen n Horowitz an d Sarah Funke genero uslyallowed me to examine several new Pound items and provided wonderfulhospitality.

Poundians who have journeyed with me in clude George Bornstein,Massimo Bacigalupo, Ronald Bush, Reed Way Dasenbrock, Bernard Dew,Burton Hatlen, Alec Marsh , Zhaoming Qian , Tim Redman, Rich ardSieburth, Robert Spoo an d Hugh Witem eyer. They h ave all substa n tia llycon tr ibuted to my understanding of the life and work of Pound . Patrici aCockra m h as been especially helpful with suggestions, sources andassistance, wh ile Pete r Brooker 's work on Pound an d bohemian Londo nide n ti fied man y new doors to open . The lat e James Laugh lin an d thelat e Do nald Gallup both offered important inspi ration for a neophyte'Poundian .' wh ile Pat Fox and Declan Spri ng at New Directions haveco nsis te n tly afforde d useful guida nce. Mary de Rachewilt z has rem ainedgracious not on ly in sha ring her kn owledge but in offering sugges tions,wh ile ens uring th at th e sto ry of Pound be th orou ghl y to ld . Walt er deRachewiltz h as also been suppo rtive. Fina lly, the Ezra Pound Associa­tion of Hailey, Idaho: their restor ati on of th e Ezra Pound birthplace andco-spo ns orsh ip of th e 20th Internati onal Ezra Pound Co n ference in Jul y2003 p rovided a wonderful gathe rin g point for ideas and news thatstim u lated the complet ion of thi s book .

Extracts from the writing of Ezra Pound are reprinted by permissionof New Directions Publish in g Corpo ratio n an d Faber and Faber Ltd, andextrac ts from Jam es Laughlin's poem 'Collage' are reprinted by permis­sio n of James Laughlin, copyrigh t © 1983.

viii

List of Abbreviations

AA

ABCRALsp

AMF

AmEP

AmRt

Allto

AV

C&R

Ooe.

Case

CEP

CPost

CrH

CST

DE

Death

Pound, Ezra, ed . Active Anthology. London: Faber andFaber, 1933.Pound, Ezra . ABC ofReading. NY: New Directions, 1960.Pound, Ezra A Lume Spento and Other EarlyPoems. NY:New Direction s, 1965 .Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. NY: Scribner's,1964 .Flory, Wendy Stallard. The American Ezra Pound.

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989 .Wilhelm, J.J. The American RootsofEzra Pound. NY:Garland Publishing, 1985 .Pound, Ezra , 'An Autobiographical Outline (written forLouis Untermeyer),.' Paris Review28 (1962) : 18-21.Yeats, William Butler. A Vision. London: Macmillan, 1938;1956 .Pound, Ezra . Canzoni and Ripostes. London: ElkinMathews, 1913 .Pound, Ezra and Marcella Spann, eds . Contucius toCummings : An Anthology ofPoetry. NY: New Directions,1964 .A Casebook 011 Ezra Pound, eds . William van O'Connorand Edward Stone. NY:Thomas Crowell, 1959.Pound, Ezra. Tile Collected Early Poems ofEzra Pound. ed .Michael John King. intro. Louis L. Martz. NY: NewDirections, 1976 .Pound, Ezra . Canti Postumi, a cora di MassimoBacigalupo. Milan: Mondadori, 2002 .Ezra Pound: The Critical Heritage, ed . Eric Hornberger.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972.The Cantos ofEzra Pound: Some Testimonies. NY: Farrar &Rinehart, 1933 .DearEditor: A HistoryofPoetry in Leiters, The FirstFiftyYears, 1912-1916. eds .joseph Parisi and Stephen Young.NY: Norton, 2002.Aldington, Richard . Death ofa Hero . London: HogarthPress, 1984 .

ix

x List of Abbreviations

Des Imagi stes Des Imagistes: An Anthology. NY: Albert and CharlesBoni ,1914.

Dis de Rachewiltz, Mary. Ezra Pound, Father and Teacher:Discretions. NY: New Directions, 1975 .

End H.D. [Doolittle, Hilda.] End to Torment: A Memoir ofEzraPound with poems from 'Hilda 's Book' by Ezra Pound. eds .Norman Holmes Pearson and Michael King. NY: NewDirections, 1979.

EP/ACH The Letters ofEzra Pound to Alice Corbin Henderson . ed. IraB. Nadel. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.

EPljj Pound/loyce: The Letters ofEzra Pound to james joyce, ed.Forrest Read. NY: New Directions Publishing, 1971.

EPCA Ezra Pound: A Critical Anthology, ed . J.P. Sullivan.London : Penguin, 1970.

EPCP Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound 's Poetry and Prose: Contributionsto Periodicals. 11 vols . eds . Lea Baechler, A. Walton Litzand James Logenbach. NY: Garland, 1991.

EPDS Pound, Ezra . Ezra Pound and Dorothy Shakespear: TheirLetters 1909-1914. eds. Omar Pound and A. Walton Litz.NY: New Directions, 1984 .

EPljL Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound and jam es Laughlin,Selected Letters. ed . David M. Gordon.NY: W.W. Norton, 1994 .

EP/jQ Pound, Ezra. The Selected Letters ofEzra Pound to johnQuinn, 1915-1924. ed. Timothy Materer. Durham, NC:Duke University Press, 1991.

EPLR Pound, Ezra. Pound/The Little Review, eds . Thomas L.Scott etal. NY: New Directions, 1988 .

EPILZ Pound, Ezra. PoundlZukofsky, Selected Letters ofEzraPound and Louis Zukofsky. ed . Barry Ahearn . NY: NewDirections, 1987 .

EP/MC Ezra Pound and Margaret Cravens :A Tragic Friendship, 1910-1912. eds.Omar Pound and Robert Spoo . Durham, NC: DukeUniversity Press, 1988.

EPS Pound, Ezra. 'Ezra Pound Speaking,' Radio Speeches ofWorld War II, ed . Leonard W. Doob. Westport, eN:Greenwood Press, 1978.

EPVA Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound and the Visual Arts .ed . Harri et Zinnes. NY:New Direct ions, 1980.

EPINB

GB

GK

HER

HR11IIi

JM

LC

LE

Metric

MN

NAOlE

PAestll

PC

PD

Per

P/F

RP

List otAbbreviations x i

Pound, Ezra. The Correspondence ofEzra Pound andSenator W illimn Borah, ed . Sarah C. Holmes. Urba na:Universit y of Illin ois Press, 200 1.Pound, Ezra. Gaudiet-Brzeska: A Memoir. (191 6); NY: NewDirec tions , 19 70 .Pound, Ezra. Guide to Kulchur, 1938; NY: NewDirecti ons, 19 70.Doolittle, Hild a [H.D.] HERmione. NY: New Directi ons,1981 .Pound, Ezra. How to Read. London: Harmsworth, 1931.Pound, Ezra. ' Ind iscre tions ,' Pavannes and Divagations.Norfolk, CT: New Directio ns, 1958 .Pound, Ezra. Jefferson and Mussolini. London : Stan leyNott, 1935 .Pound, Ezra and Dorothy Pound, Letters in Captivity1945- 1946. ed s. Oma r Pound and Robert Spoo. NY:Oxford Uni versity Press, 1999.Pound, Ezra. Literary Essays, ed . T.S. Elio t, 1954 ; NY: NewDire cti ons, 19 76.[Eliot , T.S.] Ezra Pound: His Metric and Poetry. NY: Knopf,191 7.Pound, Ezra. Make It N ew. London: Faber and Fab er,1934 .New Age.Co nove r, Anne. Olga Rudge and Ezra Pound. New Haven:Yale Un ive rsit y Press, 200 1.Pound, Ezra. ' Pragm atic Aesthetics,' Machine Art andOther Writins s, ed. Maria Luisa Ardizzone. Durham, NC:Duk e University Press, 1996, 155-9.Pound, Ezra . The Pisan Calltos, ed. Rich ar d Sieburth . NY:New Directi ons, 2003.Pound, Ezra. Pavannes and Divagations. NY: NewDirecti ons, 1958 .Pound, Ezra. Personae: Tile Shorter Poems ofEzra Pound.

rev. edn. ed . Lea Baechl er and A. Walt on Litz. NY: NewDirecti on s, 1990.Pound, Ezra. Pound/Ford, Tile Story ofa LiteraryFriendship,ed . Brita Lindberg-Seyersted. Nr' : New Directi ons 1982.Hall , Donald. Remembering Poets. NY: Harper & Row,1978. Includes 'E.I'. An Interview,' ori gin ally in ParisReview 28 ( 1962 ): 22-5 1.

xii List ofA bbreviations

SB

SCII

SL

SLMM

SP

SPP

SR

VL

WCW/IL

Pound, Homer. Small Boy: Tile W isconsin Childhood ofHomer L. Pound. ed. Alec Marsh . Hailey, ID: Ezra PoundAssociatio n, 2003.Carpen ter, Hu mphrey. A Serious Character: Tile Life ofEzra Pound. London: Faber and Faber, 1988.Selected Letters of Ezra Pound, 1907-1 941, ed, D.O. Paige.NY: New Directio ns Publishi ng, 1971.Moore, Marian ne . Selected Letters ofMarianne Moore. ed.Bonnie Coste llo. London : Penguin , 1998.Pound, Ezra. Selected Prose, 1909-1 965, ed . WilliamCookson. London: Fabe r and Faber, 1973 .Pound, Selected Poems. ed. T.S. Eliot. Londo n: Faber an dGwyer Ezra 1928.Pound, Ezra. Tile Spirit ofRomance 1910; NY: NewDirections, 1968 . Rev. edn .The Venice Library ofEzra Pound and Olga Rudge. NY:Glen n Horowitz Bookseller, 1999 .Will iam s, William Carlos and Jam es Laugh lin , SelectedLetters. ed . Hugh Wit em eyer. NY: W.W. Nor to n , 1989.