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ANTI-SEMITISM was to remain an element in Pound's work and acts for the rest of his life, but there were several other importaat political expressions and acts that Heymann examines. Pound's radio broadcasts from Italy during the war, his reputed attempt to leave Italy on the last American diplomatic train out of the country, his trial for treason and the issue of his insanity, and finally the furor over the award to Pound of prizes for his poetry. Of these four problems, Heymann's State Department documents bring new light to three...
...common knowledge that Pound's attempts to collaborate with the Fascists on the Ente Italiano Audizione Radiofoniche (EIAR), the statecontrolled radio-broadcasting agency, were at first rejected. The Fascisti thought he might be sending a code even after he began broadcasting. Heymann has turned up evidence that some even thought Pound was mad: "There is no doubt in my mind that Ezra Pound is insane!" wrote the manager of the National Institute of Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. Heymann shows that even as early as 1935 II Duce's office had criticized a plan devised by Pound as "eccentric...
There is another small point of contention surrounding Pound's collaboration with the Fascisti. Pound's defense was that he had a signed agreement with Mussolini's government--actually broadcast over the air--which read in part, Pound "will not be asked to say anything contrary to his conscience or contrary to his duties as an American citizen." The problem was really that Pound didn't understand the difference between intent and action. Even Camillo Pellizzi, the president of the Fascist Institute of Culture, said Pound was legally a traitor, but that the poet thought it was his "duty...
...cloud of documents also surrounds Pound's claim that he attempted to leave Rome via the last diplomatic train to Lisbon in 1942. A report in the Library of Congress refers to the "possibility of the development of a misunderstanding between Mr. Pound an a consular official which might have unintentionally aborted Mr. Pound's 'attempt' to leave Italy." Heymann has unearthed documents showing that the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Rome had called Pound a "pseudo American" in late 1941; he also found anonymous testimony gathered by the FBI stating that Pound "made very undignified remarks" about...
There is also the issue of Pound's insanity. While Heymann explores this in depth and uncovers a few new tidbits about the inquest into Pound's mental state--especially the conflicting reports by psychiatrists--the issue really isn't part of Pound's political life...