THE LIFE OF EZRA POUND

by Noel Stock ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 1970

Pound is a fascinating figure. The pathos and energy of his life, at last fully documented in Noel Stock's admirable biography, make us see both how odd and quintessentially American he has been. A genuine innovator, as Eliot said, he is indispensable to understanding ""the modern movement."" Of course, he has long been overshadowed by Eliot's punctilious genius, and in reading this meticulous account of the poet, his friends, his feuds, his extravagant efforts at making culture a going concern, we realize, in part, why. For one thing he lacked Eliot's irony: behaving like a ""character,"" the roaring boy of literary London, Pound performed the role in all seriousness. America, for him, was that ""half-savage country,"" yet with all his talk of Flaubert, Confucius, the monetary reforms of Colonel Douglas, and Dante, he remained, unmistakable, Pound, the village aesthete, the pedagogical mad hatter. Then, too, he lacked Eliot's balance. He was seduced by the epical. He saw himself as Odysseus, the siren-song in his ears, fleeing flaming Troy (the Cantos is testamentary here), yet his adventure had the peculiar poignancy of the small town American out of his depth in the heavy gale of international culture. Perhaps he was in the dark all along about what ""the age demanded."" Despite his classicist aspirations, he had a strong streak of romantic bluster. His broadcasts over Rome Radio during the Second World War, confirm less his political naievete, than a headlong pride, a mania to instruct. History, the vicissitudes of temperament, and his own great works have welded him into a legend. Today he has the sad dignity of a demented king, living in ""exile"" in Italy, brilliantly served, on these shores, by Stock's very important book.

Pub Date: June 16, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION