| Summary: | Ezra Pound’s Cantos are an encyclopedic and polyglot work, which alludes to very different cultures, and yet is a milestone of the poetic history of the United States. This article provides a reading of The Cantos in the light of a particular tension between linguistic cosmopolitanism and patriotism, between Pound’s voluntary exile in Europe and his wish to write a distinctively American poetry; how can the long poem be cosmopolitan in the linguistic and cultural ideal it presents, while at the same time displaying violently fascist and antisemitic passages. This article tries to make sense of Pound’s paradoxes and their implications. It is obvious that Pound, as a voluntary exile who was often on the move through Europe is linguistically and geographically cosmopolitan even when trying to produce American poetry. Is it possible to reconcile a form of cosmopolitanism with a totalitarian ideology? The American poetic renewal inaugurated by Pound is born precisely and paradoxically from the decentered position that fostered his fascist stance.
|
|---|