Ezra Pound

Pound in 1913.

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) was an American poet and literary critic who was responsible for publishing and promoting the work of many authors such as Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce during the early part of the 20th century.

Despite the concern of his friends and countrymen, Pound became an outspoken supporter of Mussolini's fascist regime during the 1930s and 1940s, and was paid to produce hundreds of radio broadcasts which criticised the American government.

After the war was over, Pound was branded a traitor and after being declared unfit to stand trial, was imprisoned in St Elizabeth's Psychiatric Hospital in Washington DC until 1958.

Ezra Pound does not appear in person during the book, but is mentioned multiple times by Callaghan as a strong literary influence, described at one point as a "prophet" (Callaghan 1963) among aspiring writers of the time. Pound occasionally contacts Callaghan, complimenting him on his work, as well as publishing several of Callaghan's stories in his journal during the first half of the book.

It is clear from the beginning that he is very highly regarded by the writers based in Paris, as shown by Hemingway's boastful comment, "Ezra Pound says it is the best prose he has read in forty years," (Callaghan 1963).

Pound is also established strongly as a character who fights for aspiring writers to be noticed, as we can see from this word tree produced in Many Eyes:

Words such as "berated" and "violently abusive" show that Pound is fiercely protective of writers he believes in and is unafraid of being aggressive in his arguments. Also, the fact we can see that at one point he decides it is useless to berate publishers, but then at another point does so anyway, suggests that he is an impulsive person whose opinion may change drastically at a moment's notice.

This idea definitely fits in with his later decision to support Mussolini and Hitler during WW2, and the fact that he turned against all of his friends to make that choice also highlights his incredible strength of will.

Works Cited:

Image:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ezra_Pound_2.jpg

References:

The Biography Channel website. 1996-2012. Ezra Pound. http://www.biography.com/people/ezra-pound-9445428 (accessed Nov 27, 2012).

Callaghan, Morley. 1963. That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html.