Pound the medievalist

http://washingtonart.com/beltway/pound.html

• I have noted the following from the article below:

• His fear of disorder and obsession with crackpot economic theories derived from his association with Major Charles H Douglas


• He assumed high fascist arrogance of state imposed order as a consequence


• This was delusion with nasty anti Semitism added which he later repudiated.
• H investigated the causes of the war in his lengthy essays to be discussed in another post.
• Was he a paranoid eccentric or just off the scale as a poet with a super sensitive antenna?
• Are poets the antennae of the race?
• He broke through the barriers and expanded poetry as no one previously had done.
• Note what TS Eliot who with other writers petitioned for his freedom had to say.He wrote to Archibald MacLeish concerning Pound of the problem to get Pound released. They would have to convince the authorities he was neither sane nor insane and might "be off the scale."
• One of my professors from undergraduate days at Calvin College, Henry Zylstra, suggested that possibility back in 1949. Pound's derangement, he said, might be more than a personality disorder; "Pound may be so sensitive a recording device that he is recording the schizophrenia deep within western culture." QUOTE
• His revolution was deep and broad. (More narrowly you can find Pound's imprint on the output of Pound-like cantos by Washington poet Carlo Parcelli, and on Parcelli's work with the e-magazine Flashpoint.) quote

But what finally is Washington to make of this poet-in-residence? I'm back
to Uncle Ez. The "treatment" had probably little effect. He had surrendered
himself in Italy so that he could get to Washington to "save the Constitution."
His obsession with crackpot economic theories, derived largely from Major
Charles H. Douglas, and his fear of disorder, sane enough to begin with ("1918
began investigation of causes of war, to oppose same"), twisted him into the
high fascist arrogance of state-imposed order. He carried into that delusion a
nasty anti-Semitism first acquired in the suburbs of Philadelphia. At St. E's he
was still ranting about the need for racial purity. Out of touch with America
(and also by the way with Nazi death camps, which he would instinctively have
abhorred) he had thought for years that Mussolini was the hero who would solve
the fiscal mess at the root of poverty and war. Uncle Ez was the kind of
paranoid eccentric who would listen to no one but himself. Unforgivably so. Now
all he could do, holding onto his arrogance, was to move past Mussolini's
collapse into older kinds of order that he could (and he really could) make
present and new in the later cantos. Washington meant psychoanalysts and lawyers
and bureaucrats, and that to any Uncle Ez in the world means almost nothing at
all.
Assuming that there is such a thing as Washington poetry, hopefully
never defined, Pound of course influenced it enormously ­ simply because he
broke through and expanded the possibilities of all poetry in English. From him
we learned to respect hard edges and metrical log jams, we learned to mine words
instead of manipulating readers with words. Our poems dared to become little
cyclotrons, energy transformers. His revolution was deep and broad. (More
narrowly you can find Pound's imprint on the output of Pound-like cantos by
Washington poet Carlo Parcelli, and on Parcelli's work with the e-magazine
Flashpoint.)
It is tempting to honor Pound's achievement by setting aside
what is ugly in its content. But that won't do. You can't separate a poem's
content from its form and still be talking about a poem. Poetry is formed
content. T. S. Eliot may have seen a way through when he wrote to Archibald
MacLeish that their problem in trying to get Pound released would be to convince
others that Pound "is neither sane nor insane." That is to say, Pound might be
off the scale. One of my professors from undergraduate days at Calvin College,
Henry Zylstra, suggested that possibility back in 1949. Pound's derangement, he
said, might be more than a personality disorder; "Pound may be so sensitive a
recording device that he is recording the schizophrenia deep within western
culture." That's an interesting way of reading Pound, who said early on that
"poets are the antennae of the race."
It was only after his release from
Washington, back in what Henry James called deep dark old Europe, that Pound got
free of his furies. After long periods of silence (incredible to anyone who knew
him) he would admit to visitors that he had been wrong. "I botched it." He told
Allen Ginsberg that "the worst mistake I made was that stupid suburban prejudice
of anti-Semitism." And in the end, far from Washington, the indignant gods he
had tried to recover who had never really left us (the mind, the mind) came
almost back, close enough again in fragments of cantos to bring to his madness
and imperfections and failings a final hush:
A blown husk that is
finished........but the light sings eternala pale flare over
marshes........where the salt hay whispers to tide's change.
(Canto
115)

Dahl and Dealings with Stephenson and CS Forester

Dahl's writing career jump started quickly with Shot Down Over Libya.Forster had asked for some RAF anecdotes to make a story but published Dahl's reminiscences exactly as they were.The title of the article was changed to that title although h was not shot down. During the war he worked for the BIS writing propaganda for the Allied Cause.He was introduced to espionage and the Canadian spymaster Wm Stephenson known as Intrepid.He supplied intelligence from Washington to Stephenson and his organization British Security Coordination.He was sent back to Britain for alleged misconduct by British embassy officials and Stephenson sent him back to Washington after the war with a promotion.


Revealed in the 80's, he was also an agent for MI-6, the British foreign intelligence service to promote Britain's cause and message in the U.S., working with Ian Fleming and David Ogilvy.He combated the America First Movement.

Dahl married Patrician Neal in 53 and was married for 30 years and had 5 children: Olivia (who died of measles encephalitis in 1962, aged seven), Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, and Lucy. He dedicated The BFG to Olivia after her death, and subsequently became a proponent of immunisation.[13]
Quote- Olivia died of measles encephalitis in 62. He dedicated the BFG after her death, and became a proponent of immunisation. After Theo's injury he became involved with the WDT valve to alleviate his son's condition hydrocephalus when his baby carriage was hit by a taxi in NY City.
He married Patricia Neal in 53 and in 65 she had three aneurysms and he took charge of her rehabilitation. They were divorced in 83 following Dahl's affair with her friend Felicity Crosland whom he subsequently married, 22 years his junior.
His children and grandchildren had attained prestigious careers later:

• Ophelia Dahl is director and co-founder (with doctor Paul Farmer) of Partners in Health, a non-profit organisation QUOTE
• Lucy Dahl is a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Tessa's daughter Sophie Dahl (who was the inspiration for Sophie, the main character in her grandfather's book The BFG) is a model and author who remembers Roald Dahl as "a very difficult man – very strong, very dominant ... not unlike the father of the Mitford sisters QUOTE

An aside. Dahls' detailed bio appears in The Irregulars, a sound book I've been listening to. His meeting with C S Forrester, a then young writer and agent of the BIS, to romanticize and high light the British plight was given flesh and detailed.The BIS engaged in cultural propaganda in romanticizing the British plight and the "evil" Nazi menace to win sympathy in the US with the British cause to engage America in the war. His writing stint was accidental and the story A Piece of Cake was accepted unaltered by Forrester. Britain's plight was showcased effectively and the support of FDR proved a tip in the balance.

Dahl began writing in 1942, after he was transferred to Washington, D.C. as
Assistant Air Attaché. His first
published work, in the 1 August 1942 issue of The Saturday
Evening Post was "Shot Down Over Libya", describing the crash of his Gloster
Gladiator. C. S. Forester had asked
Dahl to write down some RAF anecdotes so that he could shape them into a story.
After Forester sat down to read what Dahl had given him, he decided to publish
it exactly as it was. The original title of the article was "A Piece of
Cake"—the title was changed to sound more dramatic, despite the fact that the he
was not "shot down".[7]
During
the war, Forester worked for the British Information Service and was writing
propaganda for the Allied cause, mainly for American consumption.[8] This work
introduced Dahl to espionage and the activities of the Canadian spymaster William Stephenson,
known by the codename "Intrepid". During the war, Dahl supplied intelligence
from Washington to Stephenson and his organisation, which was known as British
Security Coordination. Dahl was sent back to Britain, for supposed
misconduct by British Embassy officials: "I got booted out by the big boys," he
said. Stephenson sent him back to Washington—with a promotion.[9] After the
war, Dahl wrote some of the history of the secret organisation and he and
Stephenson remained friends for decades after the war.[10]
He ended
the war as a Wing Commander.
His record of five aerial victories, qualifying him as a flying ace, has been
confirmed by post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis records, although it
is most likely that he scored more than that during 20 April 1941 where 22
German aircraft were downed.[11]
He was
also revealed in the 1980s to have been a clandestine agent for MI-6, the
British Foreign Intelligence Service, serving in the United States to help
promote Britain's interests and message in the United States and combat the "America First"
movement, working with other well known men including Ian Fleming and David
Ogilvy.[12]
[edit]
Postwar life
[edit]
Family

Patricia
Neal and Roald Dahl
Dahl married American actress Patricia
Neal on 2 July 1953 at Trinity Church
in New York City. Their
marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children: Olivia (who died of measles
encephalitis in 1962, aged seven), Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, and Lucy. He
dedicated The BFG to Olivia after her death, and subsequently became a proponent
of immunisation.[13]
When he
was four months old, Theo Dahl was severely injured when his baby carriage was
hit by a taxi in New York City. For a time, he suffered from hydrocephalus, and as a
result, his father became involved in the development of what became known as
the "Wade-Dahl-Till" (or
WDT) valve, a device to alleviate the condition.[14][15]
In
1965, Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms
while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy; Dahl took control of her
rehabilitation and she eventually relearned to talk and walk.[16]
They were divorced in 1983 following Dahl's affair with Neal's friend, Felicity
Crosland, and he subsequently married Felicity ("Liccy") d'Abreu Crosland (born
12 December 1938), who was 22 years his junior.
Ophelia Dahl is director
and co-founder (with doctor Paul Farmer) of Partners in Health, a
non-profit organisation. Lucy Dahl is a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Tessa's
daughter Sophie Dahl (who was the
inspiration for Sophie, the main character in her grandfather's book The BFG) is a
model and author who remembers Roald Dahl as "a very difficult man – very
strong, very dominant ... not unlike the father
of the Mitford sisters sort of roaring round the house with these very loud
opinions, banning certain types – foppish boys, you know – from coming
round."[citation
needed]

Noir Encyclopedia Apr 2010

http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/new-edition-of-the-film-noir-encyclopedia-slated-for-april-2010.html/comment-page-1#comment-2548

Note my comment on this blog on the upcoming Apr 2010 Noir encyclopedia and also on Nopir as Cathartic and British Film Noir.The book Iallude to is a group of excellent seminal essays found on Amazon. I gave the url site in my comment.

Roald Dahl's further adventures WWII

I can but imagine the above scenes as he saw them in the great expanse. His mistaken mission to no man's land was so typical of the errors that cost lives during the war. Fortunately, he received recoverable albeit lifelong injuries. Spared for his later covert fiascoes consistent with his personality? Note the Eleusina and Battle of Athens campaigns . He was alongside Pat Pattle which must have been,again only I can imagine, an intoxicating experience for Dahl given his temperament and the initial attendant disappointments must have been telling when transferred as attache to the British embassy in Washington. Was MI6 a shot in the arm to him and a boon to the British allied cause just when needed?The delivery of the package was again beyond the call of duty or fuelled his addiction to adventure and danger. Confusion of aerial engagement none knowing whom they shot down is well voiced by Dahl at the time.The pilots hiding is reminiscent of the rescue of pilots by the French resistance and also of my reading of stories of their being sheltered and hid by Monsignor O'Flaherty in Rome. Just an interesting aside. Note the rest of the narrative and their being lost from the squadron.

Dahl was rescued and taken to a first-aid post in Mersa
Matruh, where he regained consciousness, but not his sight, and was then taken
by train to the Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. There he fell in
and out of love with a nurse, Mary Welland. Dahl had fallen in love with her
voice while he was blind, but once he regained his sight, he decided that he no
longer loved her. An RAF inquiry into the crash revealed that the location to
which he had been told to fly was completely wrong, and he had mistakenly been
sent instead to the no man's land between
the Allied and Italian forces.[7]
In
February 1941, Dahl was discharged from hospital and passed fully fit for flying
duties. By this time, 80 Squadron had been transferred to the Greek campaign and
based at Eleusina, near Athens. The squadron was now
equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. Dahl
flew a replacement Hurricane across the Mediterranean Sea in April 1941, after
seven hours flying Hurricanes. By this stage in the Greek campaign, the RAF had
only 18 combat aircraft in Greece: 14 Hurricanes and four Bristol Blenheim light
bombers. Dahl saw his first aerial combat on 15 April 1941, while flying alone
over the city of Chalcis. He attacked six Junkers Ju-88s that were
bombing ships and shot one down. On 16 April in another air battle, he shot down
another Ju-88.
On 20 April 1941, Dahl took part in the "Battle of Athens",
alongside the highest-scoring British Commonwealth ace of World War II, Pat Pattle and Dahl's
friend David Coke. Of 12 Hurricanes
involved, five were shot down and four of their pilots killed, including Pattle.
Greek observers on the ground counted 22 German aircraft downed, but because of
the confusion of the aerial engagement none of the pilots knew who they shot
down. Dahl described it as "an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards
me from every side."
The wing returned back to Elevsis. Later on in the day,
the aerodrome was strafed by Bf 109s, but none
of them hit any of the Hawker Hurricanes. The Hurricanes were then evacuated on
21 April 1941 to a small, secret airfield near Megara, a small village, where
the pilots hid. Approximately 50 miles (80 km) north the Luftwaffe was
searching for the remaining Hurricanes. By approximately 6 or 7 a.m., about
thirty Bf-109s and Stuka dive-bombers flew
over the seven pilots who were hiding. The Stukas dived bombed a tanker in the Bay of
Athens, and sank it. Dahl and his comrades were only 500 yards (460 m)
away from the incident. Surprisingly, neither the bombers nor the fighters were
able to spot the Hurricanes parked in the nearby field. At some time in the
afternoon, an Air Commodore arrived at
the airfield by car and asked if one of the seven could volunteer to fly and
deliver a package to a man named Carter at Elevsis. Roald Dahl was the only one
who volunteered to do it. The contents of the package were of vital importance,
and Dahl was told that if he was shot down, or captured, he should burn the
package immediately, so it would not fall into enemy hands, and once he had
handed over the package, he was to fly to Argos, an airfield, with the rest
of the seven pilots in the squadron.
For the rest of April, the situation was
horrible for the RAF in Greece. If the Luftwaffe had destroyed the remaining
seven planes, they would then have had complete control of the skies in Greece.
They intended to wipe them out. If the squadron were to be found, it would mean
the worst. According to Dahl's report, at about 4:30 p.m. a Bf 110 swooped over
the airfield at Argos, and found them. The pilots discussed that it would take
the 110 roughly half an hour to return to base, and then another half hour for
the whole enemy squadron to get ready for take-off, and then another half hour
for them to reach Argos. They had roughly an hour and thirty minutes until they
would be strafed by enemy aircraft. However, instead of having the remaining
seven pilots airborne and intercepting the 110s an hour ahead, the CO ordered
them to escort ships evacuating their army in Greece at 6:00. The seven planes
got up into the air, but the formation was quickly disorganised as the radios
were not working. Dahl and Coke found themselves separated from the rest of the
wing. They could not communicate with them, so they continued on flying, looking
for the ships to escort. Eventually they ran out of fuel and returned back to
Argos, where they found the entire airfield in smoke and flames, with tents
flamed, ammunition destroyed, etc.; however there were few casualties. While
Roald Dahl and David Coke took off, three other aircraft in the wing somehow
managed to get away. The sixth pilot who was taking off was strafed by the enemy
and killed. The seventh pilot managed to bail out. Everybody else in the camp
was hiding in the slit trenches. Immediately after Dahl and Coke figured out
what was going on, the squadron was sent to Crete. A month later they were
evacuated to Egypt.
As the Germans were pressing on Athens, Dahl was
evacuated to Egypt. His squadron was reassembled in Haifa. From there, Dahl flew
sorties every day for a period of four weeks, shooting down a Vichy French Air
Force Potez 63 on 8 June and another
Ju-88 on 15 June, but he then began to get severe headaches that caused him to black out. He was
invalided home to Britain; at this time his rank was Flight
Lieutenant.