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Chronology Entry

Year

1941-1943

Text

Ezra Pound and fascism.
1997
Mary Paterson Cheadle : Pound was very direct in his regard of fascism's Confucian precedents. In all of his efforts to bolster Italy's purpose in the war – not only the broadcasts over Rome Radio but the many articles and pamphlets he wrote, the manifestos issued by him and a group of writers local to the Rapallo area, and the posters he designed and printed – Pound includes quotations from the Confucian classics and refers to Confucianism as an ally of fascism. He praised Fascism's efforts to restore economic and social order in Italy. For Pound, both Fascism and Confucianism perceived the state- an ethical economic, social and political totality – as the important contex in which to place the individual, the family, and the community.
2008
Qian Zhaoming : Ezra Pound's radio broadcasts from Rome and his letters are characterized by Italian fascism and anti-Semitism. He tried to convince Yang Fengqi that China's worst enemy was not Japan but 'international usury'. 1940 he asked Yang about the moral foundation of the nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek : "I hear that Chiang Kai-shek was converted to Christianity, which seems WRONG for a Chinese". Yang influenced Pound toward a slightly better understanding of the conflict between China and Japan.
He helped Pound locate various Chinese books and identified numerous Chinese characters. In 1940-1941 his assistance became vital when Pound took up translating Da xue and Zhong yong into Italian. Yang approved not only Pound's Italian but also his inserted commentary.
Pound's fascism grew so offensive, that Yang began backing out from their correspondence. It was their mutual interest in the Confucian Four Books that saved it. As a Confucian, Yang saw Pound's enthusiasm for Italian fascism and his zeal for Confucianism as two separate preoccupations. Having learned of Pound's reading of the Four Books, Yang encouraged him to 'occupy [himself] with this subject, apparently with the intention of attracting him away from fascism.

Mentioned People (1)

Pound, Ezra  (Hailey, Idaho 1885-Venedig 1972) : Dichter, Schriftsteller
[In der Sekundärliteratur wurden Analysen einzelner Strophen der Gedichte nicht berücksichtigt]

Subjects

Literature : Occident : United States of America

Documents (2)

# Year Bibliographical Data Type / Abbreviation Linked Data
1 1997 Cheadle, Mary Paterson. Ezra Pound's Confucian translations. (Ann Arbor, Mich. : The University of Michigan Press, 1997). S. 81, 83-84. Publication / Pou50
  • Cited by: Zentralbibliothek Zürich (ZB, Organisation)
  • Person: Cheadle, Mary Paterson
  • Person: Pound, Ezra
2 2008 Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound's Chinese friends : stories in letters. Ed. and ann. by Zhaoming Qian. (Oxford : University Press, 2008).
[Enthält] : Briefwechsel mit Song Faxiang (1914), Zeng Baosan, Yang Fengqi (1939-1942), Veronica Hulan Sun, Fang Achilles (1950-1958), Angela Jung Palandri (1952), Zhang Junmai (1953-1957), Zhao Ziqiang (1954-1958), Wang Shenfu (1955-1958), Fang Baoxian (1957-1959).
Appendix : Ezra Pound's typescript for "Preliminary survey" (1951).
http://cs5937.userapi.com/u11728334/docs/901475cb4b3c/Zhaoming_Qian_Ezra_Pounds_Chinese_Friends
_Sto.pdf
. S. XVIII, 18.
Publication / Pou16