the_case_of_ezra_pound epitome of incomprehensibility So I haven't actually finished this book, but I thought I'd write a little bit about him here, to give context to something else I'm writing. ... Ezra Pound was an American poet who lived in Europe for much of his young and middle adult years. He was part of various modernist movements in poetry along with T.S. Eliot and others, and a recurring interest of his was how the different arts intersected: for instance, writing and music. He also was a fan of fascism, particularly Mussolini's. He lived in Italy before and during World War 2, and during the war he made radio broadcasts to the States supporting the fascists and saying how great Mussolini was. So, after he was arrested by the Allies near the end of the war, he was put on trial in the States for treason. The defense was basically an "insanity" one. He did seem to have some kind of paranoia, not that it would necessarily meet the threshold for mental incapacity today. That's tricky, too, and it touches on issues of self-determination and disability rights: how responsible are we for our actions? does the "insanity" defense protect people, or reinforce the myth that people with e.g. schizophrenia are inherently dangerous? What a lot of people said, too: "treason" seemed an extreme charge for someone who babbled on a radio show that practically no one listened to. He ended up in a mental hospital for twelve years and was released near the end of his life. It wasn't as bad a place as the prison: he could and did have contact with other writers, and he published more of his Cantos (a long epic, the title taken from an Italian word for a song and also a part of a long poem, often associated with Dante's works). 220521 ... tender_square (random confession: before i had posted anything on red and was brainstorming an appropriate screen name, i had briefly considered using better_than_ezra_pound to bring music and poetry together, but thought better of it.) 220522 ... e_o_i I like "tender_square" because of the sound/image/ambiguity, but "better than ezra pound" radiates some surreally boastful energy, and there's nothing wrong with that! It reminds me of comedian Awkwafina boasting on "My Vag": "My vag wins best actress; your vag? best SUPPORTING actress" (best diss ever!) (pah, I sound like "millennial approximating Gen Z Twitter" but yes: Awkwafina reminds me I meant to watch Crazy_Rich_Asians, mainly because she's in it) 220523 ... e_o_i corrects No, the actual line woas funnier: "My vag won best vag. Your vag won best SUPPORTING vag." 220624 ... e_o_i corrects again *was, even 220624 what's it to you? who go blather from