Ezra Pound: Poet: Volume III: The Tragic Years 1939-1972

This third and final volume of A. David Moody's critical life of Ezra Pound presents Pound's personal tragedy in a tragic time. The first volumes of Moody's biography have been acclaimed as 'masterly' (Daily Telegraph), 'exceptional' (Literary Review), and 'invaluable' (New York Times Book Review). In this concluding volume, we experience the 1939-1945 World War, and Pound's hubristic involvement in Fascist Italy's part in it; we encounter the grave moral and intellectual error of Pound holding the Jewish race responsible for the war; and his consequent downfall, being charged with treason, condemned as an anti-Semite, and shut up for twelve years in an institution for the insane. Further, we see Pound stripped for life, by his own counsel and wife, of his civil and human rights. Pound endured what was inflicted upon him, justly and unjustly, without complaint; and continued his lifetime's effort to promote, in and through his Cantos and his translations, a consciousness of a possible humane and just social order. The contradictions run deep and compel, as tragedy does, a steady and unprejudiced contemplation and an answering depth of comprehension.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: 1939 - 1945 Between Paradise & Propaganda: 1939-40 A Dutifully Dissident Exile, 1941 In a Web of Contradictions: 1942-43 'To Dream the Republic': 1943-44 For the Resurrection of Italy: 1944-45 PART TWO: 1945 Talking to the FBI A Prisoner in the Eyes of Others 'In the mind indestructible': The Pisan Cantos PART THREE American Justice Giving Cornell his head - Lunacy at St. Elizabeths PART FOUR: ST ELIZABETHS 1946 - 1958 A Year in the Hell Hole Resilience: 1947 - 50 Histrionics - 'a awful lot of company' - No release - Thrown to wolves - Courage against cowardice The Life of the Mind: 1950 - 55 'Indictment Dismissed': 1956-58 Clearing Out PART FIVE: 1958 - 1972 A Final Testament: 1958 - 59 'You Find Me In Fragments': 1959 - 62 His Sickness & His Wealth: 1962 - 64 Afterlife of the Poet: 1965 - 1972 APPENDIX The Settlement of the Estate

About the Author :
A. David Moody is a Professor Emeritus of the University of York, and the author of the acclaimed Thomas Stearns Eliot: Poet (Cambridge University Press: 1979, 1994).

Review :
Moody explains and elucidates Pounds massive poetic output at length... subtitled The Tragic Years 19391972. It gives a detailed and moving account of the second half his life, which was indeed tragic. Its almost a day-to-day account of the life of this prolific and erudite writer and scholar. As such, it illuminates and validates the poetry. A landmark three volume biography...David Moody's life of Ezra Pound is complete, and a splendid work it is. magisterial...a masterful biography, as meticulous as its is broad-ranging. The third volume is a magnificent conclusion to a magisterial biography and it's hard to imagine a better researched account of Pound's life and work emerging for generations to come. With this final volume, aptly subtitled "The Tragic Years," Mr. Moody [ -- a sympathetic and indeed exemplary biographer-- ] has written as wonderfully comprehensive and comprehending a biography as anyone interested in Pound-for or against-will want to have. A landmark three volume biography / David Moody's life of Ezra Pound is complete, and a splendid work it is Ezra Pound: Poet will surely stand for a long time as one of the great literary biographies; it is inconceivable to imagine that any other life of its subject will be necessary into the far future. a brilliant performance..Moody's is by far the best researched, keenly judged, and in every sense comprehensive life of Pound we are ever likely to get. Altogether it is a crowning achievement for a very distinguished critic and scholar. attention to nuance characterises Moody's general approach to writing Pound's life...[and] extends to readings of Pound's poetry...His monumental biography is...judicious and scrupulous The final volume of A. David Moody's monumental biography may well be the most absorbing. Here, in vivid detail, Moody tells the painful story ... much new or previously unknown archival material ... the most authoritative biography to date. David Moody's magnificent accomplishment commands respect. His scholarship and criticism are exhaustive and these three volumes will be indispenable to all future Ezra Pound research. It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive or impressive biography of Pound will ever be written. The third volume is a magnificent conclusion to a magisterial biography and it's hard to imagine a better researched account of Pound's life and work emerging for generations to come. Moody has succeeded in bringing Pound to life and highlighting the vitality of his poetry. He gives modern readers an understanding of just how brilliant the dangerous, deluded and fascinating Ezra Pound was. ... attention to nuance characterises Moody's general approach to writing Pound's life ... [and] extends to readings of Pound's poetry ... His monumental biography is ... judicious and scrupulous. It is a monumental feat of scholarship, and one which must surely be seen as an exemplar of modern critical biography.