‘What Thou Lovest Well Remains’: 100 Years of Ezra Pound ed. by Richard Ardinger (review)

84 Western American Literature a poem. The result is a haunting book, one whose ideas return with clear pas­ sion long after they are read. Having Everything Right received the 1986 Western States Book Awards Citation for Excellence. STEVEN PUGMIRE Seattle, Washington ‘What Thou Lovest Well Remains’: 100 Years of Ezra Pound. Edited by Richard Ardinger. (Boise: Limberlost Press, 1986. 137 pages, $9.95 paper.) This collection of twenty-six essays and poems commemorates the cen­ tennial of Pound’s birth in Hailey, Idaho, a western boom and bust town that only grudgingly admits it was Pound’s first home. Only four selections have been published previously—Ferlinghetti’s “Pound at Spoleto,” Ginsberg’s “Encounters with Ezra Pound,” a poem by William Stafford, and James Laughlin’s essay on letters he received from Pound. These four embody the principle which also guides most of the contributions—a writer’s personal response to challenges posed by Pound. A letter written by Isabel Pound from Hailey five months before her son Ezra’s birth projects the only female voice that speaks in this strongly mascu­ line book, whose contributors often reveal as much about themselves as they do about Pound. The purpose of the collection is not scholarly. Quite the contrary. Some contributors are as violently anti-academy as Pound was, and as harsh on critics and scholars. Others, conversely, recall with pleasure being introduced to Pound’spoetry in a classroom. Hugh Kenner contributes a quiet piece on talking with Pound at St. Elizabeth’s. John Tytell chattily recounts the origins of his new biography. Other essayists find reflections of their own experiences in Pound’s rage and irrationality. Still others continue to try to cope with Pound’s anti-semitism. Despite their variety (a valuable spice), the essays and poems consistently play on one major theme: Pound was the master who taught poets how to use language anew. This very readable collection will appeal to people who like Pound, poetry, and poets. It is worth its price for a single essay by John Clellon Holmes which describes his astonishment at coming upon Pound in Venice, in November, 1967, among the hippies and pigeons on the Piazza San Marco, (“as if I had come upon Henry James among the teeny-boppers in Washing­ ton Square”) and records his inability to “pay his respects” because of “a fool reflex of propriety.” The essay is marked by the poignancy of Holmes’ recog­ nition of the missed chance, of not paying a debt owed. Holmes’ conclusion defines the spirit of the collection: “the filial respect a younger writer feels for an older ought to be acknowledged, because such insignificant acts may be all that remains of the old communions. . . .” MARY ELLEN WALSH Idaho State University ...