China and the West

Correspondence between Ezra Pound and Fang Achilles about the Confucian Odes [Shi jing] project. In 1948 Pound consulted Willis Hawley about typesetting the characters of the Odes. Hawley sent Pound the photocopies of three Chinese texts. Pound chose the seal script text for his edition. In 1949-1950 the Odes seal text supplied by Hawley passed from James Laughlin of New Directions to Laughlin's printer Dudley Kimball. Numerous letters concerning the layouts of the project were exchanged between Pound, Hawley, Laughlin and Kimball. 1951 Pound was losing patience. At that point Fang Achilles came to his rescue. He approached the director of Harvard University Press, Thomas Wilson, and succeeded in stirring an interest. The letters provide a detailed record of Pound's and Harvard's conflicting desires and of Fang's role as a mediator. Harvard's enthusiasm was for Pound's translation. Pound absolutely would not pull out from his manuscript the singing syllables and the characters. The negotiation of a contract broke down in 1952. In 1953 John Kasper reported to Pound Macmillan's and Twayne's interest in this project. Meanwhile, Fang assured Pound that Harvard University Press would carry out his wishes. Pound changed his mind. Harvard Press offered him two contracts in 1953, first to publish a 'trade edition' and then to bring out a three-way 'scholar's edition'. Pound signed both contracts.
In 1955 Fang Achilles corresponded with Pound's family and friends in efforts to get Pound released from St Elizabeths Hospital. In 1956 he put aside all other projects to work on the sound key and the seal text. Fang neglected to inform Pound of the progress of the project in 1957. Pound questioned Wilson as to what was holding up the 'proper edition of the Confucian anthology'. Wilson's reply was that the press did not yet have the complete manuscript. Pound turned to Fang for an explanation : "this put ALL the blame on you for the delay in publication of the Odes in the ONLY form that interested me in the least". According to Fang, everything essential had been held in the office of the Harvard Press editorial department. The only thing that he had not turned in was an introduction. For Pound, this was an excuse. In his last letter to Fang in 1958 he wrote : "The sabotage, the blocking of my work remains… The infinite vileness of the state of education under the rump of the present organisms for the suppression of mental life is not your fault." In a reply Fang assured Pound that Harvard University Press would start working on the project after summer vacation. By then Pound had lost confidence in Harvard. He wrote 1958 to Wilson from Italy requesting return of the manuscript and photographs of the complete edition of the Odes. With the termination of the contract regarding the scholar's edition the correspondence with Fang also came to a close.