First, an interesting (if problematic) assessment of the Cathar heresy and the basic dualist impulse one often senses in people confronted with the theodicy — the paradox of evil in a world created by a good deity, by Hilaire Belloc. Second, an interesting snippet on Neoplatonism at Wikipedia which, far from incomplete, refreshes my memory and makes it clear to me why Pound was so into Plethon and Psellus and the rest of this lot. Lastly, an essay I’ve seen around before, but one which points out some interesting facts regarding the relationship between Ezra Pound and the Occult, a …

If you can’t see the lengthy update I posted tonight regarding our discussions of Pound, and my own thoughts on the Cantos we’ve studied so far (Nos. I – VIII), it’s because you’re not signed in. Users who have signed up — a quick, free process — can see the big posts on Pound. Others can’t. Most readers probably will be grateful for this effective omission, but for those interested, sign up: it’ll take you but a minute, and you’ll get hours worth of my work for free!

I find that in reading Ezra Pound, the joy I receive is not a simple, pure joy. It is not like hearing a candence finally sliding into resolution at the end of a melodic line, nor the perfectness of a set of angles in a Kandinsky, nor is it the brilliance of a single turn of phrase or moment in a novel. The pleasure I find in Pound is somewhat more like the pleasure one finds in a good, serious Scotch that costs too much for one to enjoy it too often. There are these layers, these faint particles of …

With samples. I’m not kidding. And as much as I like Pound, some of this stuff ain’t so hot. (Though some of it’s actually bad for a barely trained musician.) Not any example of musical modernism, but interesting enough, some of it.

For some reason, I woke today with a serious, uglyfaced cold. I feel like crap. Sneezing, sniffling, the odd ache: it’s all there. I dread waking up tomorrow, and worse, I dread my 14-hour day on Tuesday. But anyway, I decided to stay at home all day, and decided to make a productive study-day out of it. Would that I had studied more: I could perhaps have finished my current Korean study book and moved on to the next. Alas, I studied only Ezra Pound, Cantos IV – VIII. We discussed Cantos I-III last week, on Wednesday, and a lot …

This is a somewhat incomplete paper and at points the author makes a few claims I’d say constitute “a stretch”, but it’s still worth a look and linking up to the things I’m interested in Pound, anyway. More on Pound coming soon.

We had our first discussion of The Cantos today — spanning Cantos I-III, and while I haven’t time to write about all we discussed today — I’ll try to get to it tomorrow — I think this link from Jason was very much worth sharing. It’s the Factory School’s Poetry and Literature Digital Audio Archive, and not only has it a big collection of Pound audio, but also audio from all kinds of other poets. If you’re into poetry, it’s a link to check out.