Ezra Pound: Poet: I: The Young Genius 1885-1920

This first volume of what will be a full-scale portrait presents Ezra Pound as a very determined and energetic young genius setting out to make his way both as a poet and as a force for civilization in England and America in the years before, during and just after the 1914-18 war. In a clear and lively narrative A. David Moody weaves a story of Pound's early life and loves; of his education in America; of his apprentice years in London, devoted to training himself to be as a good and powerful a poet as he had it in him to become; of his learning there from W. B.Yeats and Ford Madox Hueffer, then forming his own Imagiste group, and going on from that to join with Wyndham Lewis in his Vorticism, and to link up also with James Joyce and T. S. Eliot to create the modernist vortex in the midst of the 1914-18 war. We see Pound scraping a living by writing prose for individualist and socialist periodicals, and emerging as not only an inspired literary critic, but as a critic of music and society as well. Above all, Moody shows Pound's evolution as a poet from the derivative idealism and aestheticism of his precocious youth into the truly original author of Homage to Sextus Propertius and Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. We find Pound established by 1920 as a force for revolution in poetry; as a force for the liberation of the individual from stifling conventions; and as a force for renaissance in America. We find him becoming committed, moreover, to the reform of the capitalist system in the name of economic justice for all. This is the first biography to put Pound's poetry at the heart of his existence, where he himself placed it, and to view his extraordinarily active life, his loves, and his creative effort, as a single complex drama. The altogether new and comprehensive account of all of his poems, from the earliest through Cathay and up to Hugh Selwyn Mauberley and the first Cantos , will illuminate his poetry and make it more accessible. With that there is an exceptionally clear and cogent analysis of the ideas informing his Imagisme and his Vorticism ; and of the ideas informing his commitments to the freedom and fulfilment of the individual, to a cultural renaissance, and to social and economic reform. The poetry, the prose writings, and the personal life are all woven together into a brilliant narrative portrait of the poet as a young man. The second volume, The Epic Years, carries on the narrative of his life and works from 1921, the year in which he took up residence in Paris.

Table of Contents:
Preface List of Illustrations Chronology Part One: 1885-1911 1: Born in the USA 2: In a World of Books 3: First Poems: 1901-1908 4: Hell and Deliverance 5: Outward and Away 6: London 1908-1910 7: Patria Mia Part Two: 1911-1920, LONDON 8: Prelude in Paris 9: 1911-1912: Settling in 10: In the Steps of the Troubadours 11: Stirring Things Up: 1912-1913 12: Going to War: 1913-1915 13: Shaping an Intelligence Unit: 1915-1916 14: Into Action: 1917-1918 15: Goodbye to England: 1919-1920 Abbreviations Notes

About the Author :
A. David Moody is Professor Emeritus of the University of York and the author of the acclaimed Thomas Stearns Eliot: Poet.

Review :
`Review from previous edition The story of Pound's early years is riveting, and well told by David Moody.' Mark Ford, Financial Times Magazine `The first volume of this grand opus is a significant event.' Andrew Motion, Guardian Book of the Week `Professor David Moody...here portrays the first half of this astonishing poet's astonishing life. It is an authoritative and discriminating account, built on thoroughgoing research.' Michael Alexander, The Tablet `Moody's fine biography... makes the young Ezra Pound newly impressive and newly appealing.' Kevin Jackson, Sunday Times `[Moody] marshals Pound's staggering output of poetry, prose and correspondence to excellent effect, and offers clear, perceptive commentary on it.' The Economist `Moody communicates the central truth of this odd, driven life: that Pound lived for poetry, and lived his life according to what he saw as its demands.' Peter McDonald, Literary Review `This exemplary biography illuminates and exposes [Pound] with his warts and contradictions intact.' Andrew Biswell, THES `a splendid volume' Yorkshire Post `A serious searching biography.' The Scotsman `wonderful first instalment of the Pound story... a very satisfying biography.' Jonathan Wright, The Herald (Glasgow) `Moody's detailed narrative...tries to recapture the excitingness and literary brilliance of the colourful young troubadour' Stefan Collini, TLS `David Moody's splendidly researched and well-written book is greatly needed. . . . Moody must now be considered among the best readers of modernist poetry. . . . If you wish to understand why Pound is so important, Mr Moody is the indispensable guide. n Tim Redman ' Tim Redman, Dallas Morning News `Moody's first volume . . . is absolutely luminous. I'm tempted to say that this, folks, is biography as it ought to be written - if you've gotta read one biography of a major modernist (who isn't Joyce or Zukofsky), of course, then Moody's is the ticket. ' Mark Scroggins