14. Kenner, along with his then mentor Marshall McLuhan, met Pound at St. Elizabeths in 1948. Academically, Kenner & McLuhan were allied with the New Critics, who used formalism in the service of conservative & often pro-traditional South politics
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15. Unlike the New Critics, though, Kenner didn't think a poet's social vision was irrelevant. However, he did believe that it could be separated from the particular politics the poet had. In other words, Pound's condemnation of usury doesn't have to be fascist.
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16. In an important 1967 essay, later reprinted & praised by William F. Buckley, Kenner argues that the politics of Pound & the other fascist modernists could be bracketed off from their politics.pic.twitter.com/JouHntdjSI
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17. Kenner: “With Hitler, Mussolini and General O’Duffy at last out of the way, with the magnetic fields their names commanded now for all time collapsed, one can see what were the real subjects of concern [for writers like Pound]" But is fascism really "out of the way"?
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18. Kenner was a brilliant critic & Pound's best advocate, but I think the new scholarship (by Alec Marsh & others) casts doubt on a central claim. Pound's fascism was not just a matter of defeated European movement but also a still living American one.
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19. In Italy today, there is a neofascist group called CasaPound. The members call themselves ragazzi di Ezra: Ezra’s boys (not related to Vox). None of this is dead & over.
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Jeet Heer Retweeted Jesse Walker
20. If I were truly on the ball, I could've worked in Robert Anton Wilson (Pounder lover, Kenner correspondent & author of the Illumantus books).
@notjessewalker explains the relevance here:https://twitter.com/notjessewalker/status/1110370229308321792 …Jeet Heer added,
Jesse Walker @notjessewalkerReplying to @jeromenicolas76 @HeerJeetHe's the link between Poundian economics and left-libertarianism (and then back, via the influence of his conspiracy books on people who took them at face value, to some militia types). Also an odd sort of counterpoint to Kasper, since Wilson sat in against segregation.5 replies 8 retweets 62 likesShow this thread -
Jeet Heer Retweeted
21. If I were also on the case, I would have brought in James Jesus Angleton (Pound admirer, CIA counter-intelligence expert, the man who dropped the ball on Oswald, torturer of many Soviet defectors). https://twitter.com/TCleveland4Real/status/1110368215979474946 …
Jeet Heer added,
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22. Anyways, if you want to read more about the cultural politics of the Pound era, here's an essay I did on Hugh Kenner & Guy Davenport. It's one of the best things I've written:https://newrepublic.com/article/153244/hugh-kenner-guy-davenport-letters-unlikely-literary-friendship …
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Wow. I was hoping you'd link to something you'd written about this, but I'm a little apprehensive. Will I have to repudiate absolutely everything about New Criticism?
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Oh no, I think I'm pretty respectful. Would be curious with what you think.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Utterly fascinating and delightful. I learned so much and smiled so much! When I go downstairs, where my laptop is, I will find a sexy pullquote and RT.
0 replies 0 retweets 1 likeThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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