Ezra and Dorothy Pound: Letters in Captivity, 1945-1946

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From Publishers Weekly
In 1945, Ezra Pound was arrested for his pro-Axis radio broadcasts and sent to a U.S. military prison outside Pisa. Incarcerated for treason in an open-air "death cell," the psychologically fragile poet suffered a mental collapse. He was transferred to the prison's more humane medical compound, where he was permitted to write (composing The Pisan Cantos) and to correspond with one person, his doting and stoical wife, Dorothy. This important collection of letters, co-edited by the Pounds' son, Omar, provides the only first-hand account of Pound's initial year of captivity, from his feverishly productive days in Pisa to his confinement in Washington's St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the Insane, where he remained for the next 12 years. Readers familiar with Pound's letters collected elsewhere will recognize his quirky spelling and stylized Yankee dialect, and his cranky, charismatic didacticism. But these letters reveal him in a new light: shattered by his isolation and the suspicion that the public had not "heard or if hearing they understood... one single word of [his radio] talks," he is often mute with melancholy (one letter simply says "it is long long long"). In lucid moments, he frets to Dorothy about his mistress Olga Rudge's financial straits, and begs for "news, personal gossip anything," which Dorothy generously supplies. Dorothy's letters are no less fascinating. Clearly the more grounded one in the marriage, she nurses his ailing mother, funnels money to Olga and dissuades him from representing himself in the legal proceedings. She arranges the publication of the Cantos, which won the prestigious Bollingen prize in 1948, touching off one of the greatest literary controversies in American history. The editors' annotations of Pound's often fractured prose are helpful throughout, and Spoo's insightful introductory essay illuminates what was doubtless the darkest year in the great poet's life. 54 halftones not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Ezra Pound was one of the giants of modernism. While his literary output has often been the focus of attention, the private Pound has not always been easy to study. Now two collections of previously unpublished letters throw new light on his not-so-pleasant personal life. The letters to his wife were written while Pound was incarcerated for treason near Pisa at the end of World War II. Allowed to write only to her, Pound chronicled a difficult period, revealing the depth of their relationship as well as the harsh conditions he endured, including confinement to a cage for several weeks. In addition to these previously unpublished letters, the editors have included military and FBI documents, previously unpublished photographs, and coverage of Pound's return to the United States and his placement in a federal mental institution. Pound's correspondence with Olivia Rossetti Agresti, written between 1937 and 1959, reveals much about his prejudices and outright hatreds. His targets included the United States, Great Britain, the Catholic Church, Jews, and Marxists. As this book shows, the period following World War II was one of the most productive for him: "The Pisan Cantos" was critically received, and he translated Confucius and wrote "Rock Drill" and "Throne" during this period. The editors hope Pound will not be totally condemned for his offensive views. Taken together, these volumes contribute a sometimes disturbing but necessary look at a complicated literary genius and allow readers to evaluate his darker side. Recommended for literary collections.?Ronald Ray Ratliff, Chapman H.S. Lib., KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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