Comments on: Ezra Pound and the Tea Party: Troubled Associations in America http://www.hydramag.com/2010/02/22/ezra-pound-and-the-tea-party-troubled-associations-in-america/ Literary arts magazine dedicated to the wayward, ordinary, bizarre, everyday, and the impossible. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:35:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: stephen http://www.hydramag.com/2010/02/22/ezra-pound-and-the-tea-party-troubled-associations-in-america/#comment-3902 stephen Thu, 05 May 2011 08:38:29 +0000 http://www.thehydramag.com/?p=2813#comment-3902 while the main point of this article is spot-on, it's not exactly correct to say categorically that pound was not a nativist. sure, he wouldn't take the tea party seriously. but in his abc of economics, he overvalues his "frontier origins" (spent the first 2 years of his life in idaho) and laments the "decline of the american type" in the face of immigration. he never revoked his u.s. citizenship, a fact which landed him in a heap of legal trouble over his radio broadcasts (in which he frequently identified himself as an "american citizen"). while the main point of this article is spot-on, it’s not exactly correct to say categorically that pound was not a nativist. sure, he wouldn’t take the tea party seriously. but in his abc of economics, he overvalues his “frontier origins” (spent the first 2 years of his life in idaho) and laments the “decline of the american type” in the face of immigration. he never revoked his u.s. citizenship, a fact which landed him in a heap of legal trouble over his radio broadcasts (in which he frequently identified himself as an “american citizen”).

]]> By: dror http://www.hydramag.com/2010/02/22/ezra-pound-and-the-tea-party-troubled-associations-in-america/#comment-2860 dror Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:53:50 +0000 http://www.thehydramag.com/?p=2813#comment-2860 if anything pound was looking to get with far more intense racism/genocide out of the country. if anything pound was looking to get with far more intense racism/genocide out of the country.

]]> By: Edgar Garcia http://www.hydramag.com/2010/02/22/ezra-pound-and-the-tea-party-troubled-associations-in-america/#comment-2859 Edgar Garcia Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:21:11 +0000 http://www.thehydramag.com/?p=2813#comment-2859 Nick - it is difficult to find a platform of discourse with you when you begin with the presumption that Pound's association with fascism was the defining feature of his position on provincialism, place and ways of thinking about space. Following your reasoning, I could say the same about Neruda's Stalinism in order to disparage his own thinking on space, place and movement. Therefore - rather than begin with political slur and work backwards, I recommend that you read some Pound (your note suggests that you've read one line from an anthology - although I'm sure you've read a bit more) and really think about how movement works there, how place is theorized. Or, taking a shortcut, read his "Provincialism, the Enemy." But to address what I think is the more interesting point you illustrate here (that Pound remains largely under-read and instead read about by persons who form certain opinions based upon bad biography): It is interesting to think about how the tea-party seems desperate enough to create party identity by identifying a cultural authority, that they would go to Pound, or Jefferson or Adams, neglecting that any of these social thinkers would have been highly uneasy with the buckshot mindset of political party itself. But this is a problem on the left as well - which you demonstrate in your invocation of Neruda and Lorca. Anyway, all I'm trying to say is - why don't we read the poetry, instead of deploying the poet as political instrument? Nick – it is difficult to find a platform of discourse with you when you begin with the presumption that Pound’s association with fascism was the defining feature of his position on provincialism, place and ways of thinking about space. Following your reasoning, I could say the same about Neruda’s Stalinism in order to disparage his own thinking on space, place and movement. Therefore – rather than begin with political slur and work backwards, I recommend that you read some Pound (your note suggests that you’ve read one line from an anthology – although I’m sure you’ve read a bit more) and really think about how movement works there, how place is theorized. Or, taking a shortcut, read his “Provincialism, the Enemy.”

But to address what I think is the more interesting point you illustrate here (that Pound remains largely under-read and instead read about by persons who form certain opinions based upon bad biography): It is interesting to think about how the tea-party seems desperate enough to create party identity by identifying a cultural authority, that they would go to Pound, or Jefferson or Adams, neglecting that any of these social thinkers would have been highly uneasy with the buckshot mindset of political party itself. But this is a problem on the left as well – which you demonstrate in your invocation of Neruda and Lorca.

Anyway, all I’m trying to say is – why don’t we read the poetry, instead of deploying the poet as political instrument?

]]> By: Nick http://www.hydramag.com/2010/02/22/ezra-pound-and-the-tea-party-troubled-associations-in-america/#comment-2858 Nick Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:33:33 +0000 http://www.thehydramag.com/?p=2813#comment-2858 Ezra Pound was also a anti-semitic fascist, whom other more sensible more progressive poets like Neruda and Lorca despised. To paint Pound as a great poet is fine, no doubt there, but a social sage? It is not surprising his name is evoked by the tea baggers.. Beyond that, to suggest he left America for it's lack of cultural/racial advancement is bizarre. Certainly America was wrought with racial problems i.e post reconstruction lynchings, Nazi sympathies, etc. But Pound was no saint either and found himself aligned with brutally oppressive leaders; he supported Mussolini and to a lesser degree Franco. So beyond the irony that this article points out, its overall sentiment and approach to Pound is slightly misguided. Ezra Pound was also a anti-semitic fascist, whom other more sensible more progressive poets like Neruda and Lorca despised. To paint Pound as a great poet is fine, no doubt there, but a social sage? It is not surprising his name is evoked by the tea baggers.. Beyond that, to suggest he left America for it’s lack of cultural/racial advancement is bizarre. Certainly America was wrought with racial problems i.e post reconstruction lynchings, Nazi sympathies, etc. But Pound was no saint either and found himself aligned with brutally oppressive leaders; he supported Mussolini and to a lesser degree Franco. So beyond the irony that this article points out, its overall sentiment and approach to Pound is slightly misguided.

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