Abstract
Ezra Pound (1885-1972) is one of the most influential and most controversial American poets of the twentieth century. His multidimensional career and uncompromising life encapsulate crucial questions about the role of the writer in society: What is the relationship between experimental art and extreme political views? Can art survive what Walter Benjamin called the “sickness of tradition”? What is the future of poetry in a world dominated by technology and economic rationalism? This essay explores these questions by focusing on the reception of Pound in contemporary Italy. More specifically, three texts written by some of the most perceptive Italian readers of Pound will be examined: Giorgio Agamben’s introduction to the Italian translation of Pound’sSelected Prose: 1909-1965(2016), Giuseppe Montesano’s new introduction to Cantos scelti(2017), and an article on Pound by Claudio Magris published in the Italian newspaperCorriere della Serain October 2018.
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