Ezra Pound, Language and Persona. (Quaderni di Palazzo Serra, 15) by Massimo Bacigalupo, William PrattIn Venice and in the Veneto with Ezra Pound by Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, John Gery, Massimo Bacigalupo, Stefano M. Casella

Abstract

MLR, 104.4, 2009 1129 simple reason that theyhave room to address thequestion ofwhy rather than simply stating thewho, where, and when. Thus Jacqueline Hurtley has interesting things to say about theway inwhich Catalan, Galician, and Basque communities appropri ated Cathleen niHoulihan in translations and performances between 1920 and 1936, thus connecting Yeats's own national ideals to an aspired cultural independence within these Iberian regions. Similarly, Jochum's analysis of theGerman reception is illuminating, in that he argues that the lack of overall engagement with Yeats's work was partly due to theuneven quality of translations byHerbert E. Herlitschka, who acquired the exclusive German translation rights as early as 1928 and retained them until the late 1960s. Carle Bonafous-Murat perceptively examines themerits and demerits ofvarious French translators (especially Yves Bonnefoy), and shrewdly remarks thatYeats's reception was subject to the changing attitudes toMallarme. Roger Keys astutely outlines theway early Russian symbolists engaged with Yeats. But on thewhole this reader lamented the absence of any reception theories (even ifonly Jauss's concept of Erwartungshorizonte, the 'horizons of expectation' thatgovern theway inwhich texts are culturally appropriated) within these essays, as the paucity of reception (forwhatever reason) is just as telling as a more suc cessful reception when analysing theway inwhich texts and ideas are disseminated across cultural, linguistic, and political spaces. Moreover, itappears as if the absence of a more sustained (exciting?) reception ofYeats's work in continental Europe resulted in the editorial decision to include three essays on the Irish reception, which seems rather disproportionate in the larger context of thevolume. These three essays are undoubtedly interesting,but in a curious way undermine thewhole enterprise since they return us to the cultural and political engagement with Ireland we know Yeats preferred. On thewhole, thisvolume is surely a valuable research tool forYeatsian scholars (not least because of itsuseful timeline and bibliographies), but offers less to readers baffled by the complex process of literaryand cultural exchange across Europe. University of Reading Mark Nixon Ezra Pound, Language and Persona. Ed. byMassimo Bacigalupo andWilliam Pratt. (Quaderni di Palazzo Serra, 15) Genoa: University of Genoa. 2008. 447 pp. 15. ISSN 1970-0571. In Venice and in theVeneto with Ezra Pound. By Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, John Gery, Massimo Bacigalupo, and Stefano M. Casella. Venice: Supernova. 2007. 91pp. 14. ISBN 978-88-88548-79-1. Ezra Pound, Language and Persona collects papers from a conference of that title which took place in 2005 in Rapallo. As such collections go, this is an unusually rewarding series of contributions by twenty scholars from the United Kingdom, Italy,Germany, Finland, Japan, theUSA, etc.: a truly international gathering that approaches from various perspectives themuch-debated question of modernist personae and of the polyglot writing Joyce, Pound, and Eliot have accustomed H30 Reviews us to. In their introduction (pp. 19-29) the editors suggest, following the lead of Donald Davie, that Pound isverymuch a personal and autobiographic poet?that essentially it is his voice that we hear, whatever the mask he chooses to wear. Thus, 'some commentators have wasted their time trying to prove thatMauberley [rather than Pound] is the speaker of Part 1 [ofHugh SelwynMauberley], which makes no sense' (p. 26). On the other hand, it is true that Pound will express his dearly held beliefs in archaic language which is itselfamask, as in the famous 'Pull down thyvanity' passage, or in his diatribes against 'usura'. The witty epigraph of Part 1of this book, 'Personae', from Huck Finn's description of the King's and Duke's play-acting, implies that Pound's medieval trappings should not be taken too seriously. In fact, Fabian Ironside devotes an essay (pp. 153-80) to Pound's sources in Jacksonian humour (with some funny illustrations of Sut Lovingood and Birdofreedom Sawin). Pound very often exchanged themask of thebiblical prophet for that of thevernacular humorist (or demagogue, as in theRome broadcasts). He never lost the desire to address awide audience and educate it with his conclusions about theworld at large. But theCantos remain a long and discontinuous autobio graphical project, held together by Pound's own conviction and by the intermittent strength of his delivery. So much we gather from Walter Baumann's paper...