The term WEENIE, diminutive of one of the minor poets of the Spewsfeld era/both of 'em Harvard men of the WORST variety hence
application
of term to institution for degradation of learning which feeds yu
?
?
Ezra-Pounds-Chinese-Friends-Stories-in-Letters
?
: ?
?
?
[No twisty thoughts] from Analects, 2.
2 at the end of Classic Anthology.
Cf.
Confucius, 197: ''He said: The anthology of 300 poems can be gathered into the one sentence: Have no twisty thoughts.
''
Shuo-wen: see Glossary on Xu Shen.
112 EP to Fang (TL-2; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 18 Giugn [ June]/[1954]
yes, my Achilles,
ber' nice introduction.
VERY glad the photo is on destructable jacket not in volume itself.
WHEN the real edition is done, there shd/alzo be a[n] index, or table of
contents, or both, of the poEMZ.
Now the jacket is VERY interesting, AND on some future occasion when the
Hnbl FANG is present, coram, IN person, his anonymous correspondent will attempt to explain moeurs [customs] of the utter barbarians to banished celestial LAMPRA SUMBAINAI [symbolic light] perhaps. We await the real edition.
Van der Loon/Leiden E. J. Brill 1943/did an index which cd/be oVset/or rather one wd/oVset his Wrst and second colums, and then give Wrst lines as in my version. no need of alphabetical chinese romanj.
In fact I reckon the simple list of contents with Wrst lines of the english wd/be suYcient.
some stewdent might be given a pass mark for tabulating Hid, hid
Shade o' the vine
She: Curl grass
In the South be drooping trees.
Locusts a-wing
O omen tree/ in fact if nobuddy wants to do, I might even have a go at it myself. It is the most BEEyewteeful anthology in the world, and CONFUCIO had
more to do with making it than had yr/anon/crspdt
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 147
perhaps the hnbl F/g shd hv/enc/for his Wle the buzzard who sent it did not, if I recall say what smear sheet conveyed the item of infamy.
In any case they putt the portrait on the BACK cover and the hnbl Kuan's Wnger on the FRONT cover is O. K. since/or even not since/THAT is good emphasis/GOOD, yes, grampa pleased with that. IF however the hnbl FANG will consult Marsano edtn Guido, he will encounter a diVerent Anschauung.
Salute the member of his family.
Not knowing IF or what goDDAMMbrit is dealing with what/, I limit addition to the addresses of (review copies) ABC, co/Boris de Rachewiltz
33 via Quattro Fontane
Il CaVe ?
co/G. B. Vicari via Salaria 334 Roma Italy.
(I am putting men, with names of papers where they will see that a review gets printed.
Camillo Pellizzi 12 via d Villa Albani, Roma
Carlo Scarfoglio
(haven't address of paper where he writes; send him co/O. R. Agresti, 36 via
Ciro Monotti. <Largo Pon chielli 4 Roma> He has just done large blurb in Paese Sera/havn't that address, issue for June 16th/
The CaVe ? splurges are in March and April issues. Absence is making the EyeTalYan heart grow fonder.
Mark the above/''review copies. ''
Ask the Mercure de France, 26 rue de Conde ? , Paris V, IF they desire copy for review? dont send it until they say YES.
AND you can transfer the personal names in yester letter to the ADVERTIS- ING column. and add
Stanislas de Yankowski/co Mrs Demant 540 East Ab 28 Los Angeles 31
Pinkafornia (which yu be'r spell Cal on the henvelope. he is now on TRAXINIAI
Old Yarp has been asked to state that SOPHOKLES wrote the play. similar ideogramic or sense of permanence wd/become.
the utter barbarians: the reference is to the typography of EP's name larger than that of Confucius. F/g shd hv/enc/: an enclosed clipping of news from Tokyo: ''Peking Working on an Alphabet. '' Kuan's Wnger: in a letter to EP of 14 June 1954, Fang explains: ''As for the picture of the Wve Wngers on
the front cover, it is that of Kuan P'ing-hu . . . [my wife] Ilse's lute (k'in) teacher in Peking--one
of the foremost masters of the ancient instrument'' (Beinecke).
Boris de Rachewiltz: see Glossary on De Rachewiltz, Boris.
G. B. Vicari: Giambattista Vicari (1909-78), publisher of EP's Carta da Visita (1942), founded the
review Il CaVe ? in 1945.
Carlo Scarfoglio: in 1964 journalist Carlo Scarfoglio (1887-1964) published an Italian version of EP's
Classic Anthology (Gallup, D81b).
? ? ? ? ? 148
a. fang and pound's classic anthology
113
EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
?
without arogance?
They have been using a plain bit of print font/I asked x for a proper one made
with brush, but La Sibille says it shows arogance.
I had not looked at it carefully/neither the tree [? ] grows as tree, nor does
the piled wood have weight, and the axe [? ] is Xighty.
Now there are feelings to be considered. Those of the olblging wielder of the
brush and black ink/
BUT there is also the higher aim/
I forget if yu hv/old Legge's 4 bks/pirated edtn/in which the tree is a TREE
(title page)
None of the vanity of the RAYS/in the Jap hand, used for the Fenollosa. Know anything about a buzzard named Chang Kuangchi acc/Morgan itz a
nuthr of 'em, not Carson [Chang].
? : ? ['make it new'] appears in Cantos 87, 93, and 94.
La Sibille: Veronica Huilan Sun (see Glossary).
Chang Kuangchi: K. C. Chang (1931-2001), author of The Archaeology of Ancient China (1968) and
numerous other books.
Morgan: Frederick Morgan (1922-2004), editor of the Hudson Review.
114 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
June 24, 1954
Dear Mr Pound,
Mrs DuVy told me that she had the 8 review copies and 5 advertising copies all
mailed to the addresses you gave me. She further told me that she had your 9 copies mailed to DP.
As I wrote in my last, the Press is out to kill: they sent out quite a number of review and advertising copies themselves, so much so that the stock of their free copies is practically exhausted. I wonder if I can ask them to give a couple of free copies to me. (May I impose on you to the extent of requesting you to honor me with a copy of (out of ) your lot, --with appropriate inscription. If you don't have any to spare, I shall not feel unhappy either. )
O my Achilles
have yu a Kalligraphist who can make a hsin [new or make it new] sign
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 21 Jun/[1954]
? eye suppose.
a. fang and pound's classic anthology 149
Am enclosing SIN [? ]. Are you planning to re-issue any of your books? Yours
[signed] Achilles Fang
115 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 27 Jun [1954]
O FANG
yu are certainly welcome to two copies or whatso yu can bone out of the
LOCAL powers/
and D. P. <[in DP's hand:] with pleasure> will probably consent to carry a
signed copy to the post/at any rate a signature is at yr/hnrb disposal.
Now as to character showing in brush strokes/Hui Lan gave a feathery axe etc. The YOUNG using that hsin sign as basis, point out the solidity of the plain damn
print block.
queery [:] DOES the tree grow and STAND/has the wood pile weight, will
the AXE cut, or at any rate strike hard [? ] The young said re/my clumsy attempts in ANALECTS/frontpiece yes, they were clumsy but humble
AS to PLANNING//dirty word/I am ever blasting at pubrs/to get on with JOB/
However, the Sq/$/and possibly Scheiwiller are BUILDIING basic kulch/fer wops [Italians] and yanks/
The author is not the person to be pestered/clean men should blast kick DAMN and push pubrs/Mc hoRRse has velleity/The fringe has DELAYity.
Jobs are TOLD 'em/then time meanders.
Remember I want <to see> front matter of real EDITION when and/or/if. Cause there is something more to print in that front. In fact I think something was missed out, this time, but it don't matter.
Hui Lan: see Glossary on Sun, Veronica Huilan.
Sq/$: the Square Dollar series copublished by John Kasper and David Horton reissued EP's favorite
works in booklets that sold for a dollar.
Scheiwiller: see Glossary on Scheiwiller, Vanni.
Mc hoRRse: New Directions managing editor Bob MacGregor.
116 EP to Fang (AL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] [3 September 1954]
150 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
? opposite p. 155 stone classics, or rather is it a way of writing p'ing ? [just, equal, peaceful]
mathews 5303.
& if not what?
-----------
near to benevolence but the strokes sure do seem to be put on diVerently.
? : in Unwobbling Pivot EP renders ? ? ? ? ? as ''energy is near to benevolence'' (Confucius, 155). See also Canto 93/648-9:
? li4
? hsing2 ? chin4 ? hu1 2154 ? je^n2
holding that energy is near to benevolence.
117 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
9/12/54
Dear Mr Pound,
Under the date of Dec. 6, I wrote to Farrar as follows:
Harvard University Press has forwarded to me your letter of inquiry about The Classic Anthology of Ezra Pound. I am sorry to disappoint you but I have no information as to when and under what circumstances Mr Pound pro- duced the work you admire so much. All that I know is that Mr Pound executed the translation all by himself and that he spent much eVort on the scholarly apparatus to be published soon in the second edition of the book.
Once more I apologize for my inability to oVer you any information. ''All by himself,'' because a number of people have asked me, just because
I wrote the introduction, if I had helped with translation.
''The second edition''--loose language, of course.
Abstained from entering into the matter concerning Bollingen. Since I were
not to quote you, I can't take the matter into my hand.
The Press is mailing a copy of the book to Mr Moore as you desire.
Yours [signed] Achilles
Farrar: Robert Farrar and Stanley Rinehart in New York issued the Wrst American editions of A Draft of XXX Cantos (1933) and The Fifth Decad (1937).
Mr Moore: The American poet and psychiatrist Merrill Moore (1903-57) visited EP in 1952 and 1954.
? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 151
118 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] [29 January 1955]
ages before the year of the sheep [1955]/Herr [Mr] Fang sent a work in krautisch/nippisch und chink/by KUNZE. given my imperfect knowledge of krautisch, HAS Mr Fang ANY idea what bloodysodam Herr Kunze thought he was up to?
A totally unreliable source told me Weenie's [Harvard] were GOING to print a decent edtn/of the ODES.
a man of probably very bad character enquires IF?
I gather Mr Personal-violence (or Force-of-Nature) [Tze-chiang] Chao is unknown to you. He has an admiration, most respectable, for Tu Fu.
whether any celestial [Chinese] can be mentioned in presence of, or in letter to, any OTHER celestial (any more than with a damWOpp [Italian]) I do not know. Li Ki may have some light on subject but it has not reached me. Neither has
current Hudson YET, tho I hear that blue ink has been employed. ----------
29 Jan/and will be posted I spose domani [tomorrow] o lunedi [Monday]
this day recd/one dried tortoise shell with remarks in probably hindoostani, possibly sanscrit, and arabic. Any demand for this ware among the high intelligentsia?
KUNZE: Reiner Kunze, Praktisches Zeichenlexikon chinesisch-deautsch-japanisch: 6000 Zeichen etymolo- gisch erklart mit neum praktischen Schlasse (1938). See Letter 119.
current Hudson: Hudson Review, 7/4 ([1954/]1955) with Canto 85.
119 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
3/II/55
Dear Mr Pound,
I haven't heard that Herr Kunze passed sinological aptitude test, nor does his
Zeichenlexikon indicate its author as possessing high sinological I. Q.
I forced the book upon you imprimis [Wrstly] because I (or rather meine Gattin [my wife]) thought (at that time she did not know that you had thumbed through Mathews more than she had done) the book with numerous clear-type ideograms might be of some use to you, secundo [secondly]--I (not Ilse) thought you might take kindly (not that you weren't kind) to the unfortunates
in S. Liz's, who seemed to me saner than Herr Kunze.
152 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
Who's this Chao? Not Chao Yuen-ren. (Half of Chinese verse-mongers are for Li Po, and the other half for Tu Fu. ) A certain William Hung, D. D. (here at Harvard), native missionary, in 1952 published an unreadable book (Harvard Press) entitled TU FU, China's Greatest Poet. (Preface: Bible and Tu Fu are the two greatest books to Hung pater Wliusque [father and son]. )
Please enlighten me on Weenie's project. Haven't heard anything about the Odes project.
As for the scratched tortoise-shell, I am really interested. I always thought that Chinks were the only ones who had socalled oracle-bones. It would be very interesting to see what the East Indians scratched on crustacean. I know no Sanskrit, but there are people here who read it without much trouble (I hope). It may turn out to be a real Ch. specimen (Hsia Dynasty). Grateful if DP could consign the shell to mail when she goes to the PO next time.
Notice a short prose-piece in japonaise by Reck (on VOU) in that egregious ''Poetlore. ''
Yours [signed] Achilles
Chao Yuen-ren: mathematician, linguist, and composer Zhao Yuanren compiled Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese (1947).
William Hung: William Hung, Tu Fu, China's Greatest Poet and Notes for Tu Fu, China's Greatest Poet, 2 vols. (1952).
Reck: Michael Reck traveled to Japan in 1953. In a letter Katue Kitasono, of the avant-garde poetry journal VOU, reports: ''I was surprised to see him speak Japanese so Xuently'' (Pound/Japan, 125).
120 EP to Fang (TL-1)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 7 Feb [1955]
o ACHilles/estimated age of turtle (shell) about 80 years/age of animal at date of demise, uncertain.
Inscription presumably made by friend of Gege, as I don't spose SHE knows enuf snskrt or even aRABik to have done it herself.
The term WEENIE, diminutive of one of the minor poets of the Spewsfeld era/both of 'em Harvard men of the WORST variety hence application of term to institution for degradation of learning which feeds yu
? ? ? ?
mr Chao Tse-Chiang (''personal violence'' or ''force of nature,'' as yu choose
to select from Mathews' list of whichwhats. He LIKES his Tu Fu. AT any rate brot in several Tu Fu that I did not know and was glad to read.
-----------
? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 153
''Gege'' is I take it diminutive for ''Virginia,'' whether blonde or brunet, I do not know. I LIKE to get letters and even oddities from the enthusiastic (presumably) young.
As Stock is sailing from Orstraliaaa to Napoli, I am telling Igor to see him/ and asking Boris to certify nature of his kid broth.
Gege: ''Gege'' corresponded with EP from 1955 to 1956 (Lilly). Stock: see Glossary on Stock, Noel.
Igor: see Glossary on De Rachewiltz, Igor.
Boris: see Glossary on De Rachewitz, Boris.
121 Fang to EP (TLS-3; Beinecke)
Dear Mr Pound,
Here are errata for [Canto] 85 489: i ? i
moao ? /read/ moua ?
po ? u
gn^? ng
(last line). palatiam/read/palatium
492: cymba et remis/read/cymba et remus
Praecognita/read/Praecogita
494: ta ? houe ? i Meng ts ? ? n/read/Me ? ng
Heo ? u Tsi/read/Heo ? u Ts ? i
Ping/read/Pin
Ts'oung ta`n ming/read/Ts'o ? ung ta`n m^? ng ? ? ?
Don't you want to write
Ta`n ts'o ? ung m^? ng ? ? ?
(as in Couvreur)? tso ? iue^n heo^u / read / heo ? u
495: che`u t's`? / read / tche`u ts'^?
na`i tcheu` t's`? / read / na`i tche`u ts'^?
? Shouldn't it be ? ? For ? is Pt IV, Ch. III while both ? and ? ? are in pt. IV, Ch. IV.
496: ? /read ? (the Wrst is li4, M3854)
? p'ei/read p'e ? i
497: (t'ien4)/read/t'ien1 (presuming that it is ? ). 498: T'SOU KIA/read/TSOU KIA
[Cambridge, Mass. ] 4/III/55
? ? ? 154 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
OU' TING/read/OU TING
wei tcheng tcheu/read/we^i tche ? ng tche ? u/or/wei tcheng tcheu.
499: kiao ? , chiao 1-4 ?
hsu ? , in the Wrst tone Shouldn't the lines be inverted? ? Hio ? ko`u jo ? u koua`n/read/Hio ? ko ? u jo ? u kou ? an (? ? ? ? )
500: Halloran/read/Holohan (assuming that it refers to Major William V. Holohan)
Houng Ieo/read? Houng Iao
501: ? read ? (the Wrst doesn't exist). M 4373.
- - - - - -Query
487: Galileo's Dialogo sopra i due massimi Sistemi del Mondo Tolemaico e
Copernicano (Wnished in 1630 and published in 1632) was put on the Index per Decr. 23 Aug. 1634 (cf. Index, ed. 1758).
Copernicus' De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium was indexed March 5, 1616, with the priviso usque corrigetur (Encyclopedia Br. s. v. Galileo). 1758 Index lists this book with the priviso nisi fuerint correcti juxta emendationem editam anno 1620, Decr. 15 Maii 1620 (this refers to the fact that Cardinal Gaetani completed his revision of the book in 1620).
Now, in 1616 G had to recant his heliocentric theory. Perhaps by ''indexed'' you
are referring to this.
Failed to discover anywhere that Cleopatra wrote of the currency.
May I have the source? And the sources of
1. che funge (500) (Mussolini? If so, ubi? )
2. e canta la gallina (495) ? ? ? ? (Courveur p. 185)
3. ''Liking some, disliking others, doing injustice to no man''(495) 4. the sheltered grass hopes, chueh, cohere (488) ? ? ?
5. Hulled rice and silk at easter
(with the bachi held under their aprons From T'ang's time until now)
6. UBIJUSVAGUM(doesitrefertoUBIJUSINCERTUM,IBIJUSNULLUM? ) 7. ''cui ditta e` dentro'' (does it refer to Purg. 24. 53-54: ed a quel modo che
ditta dentro, . . . ? )
8. SAGETRIEB (bis) ? (Frobenius? ubinam? )
Otherwise 85 is perlucid to me. Shall be very happy to have my mind cleared about the 8 hard nuts.
Yours [signed] Achilles Fang
By the way, Couvreur's tone system is:
1 ? 2^ '3 4' 5'
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 155
490-491
? perhaps better ? ? ? ? ?
errata for 85: in the Wrst Italian and American editions of Rock-Drill (September 1955, March 1956)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ''moao ? '' becomes ''moua,'' ''Meng'' becomes ''Me ? ng,'' and ? (not ? ) is inserted to justify 4
''tien . ''
Frobenius: see Glossary on Frobenius, Leo.
122 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
May 3, 1955
Dear Mr Pound,
Jack Hawkes, to whom I forwarded your letter, has expressed his apology and
promises to please you when he takes care of the major edition. (I met him weeks ago, but have been too busy to convey his message to you. )
Have been educating myself by taking the Cantos as my sextant: gone through JeVerson, Adamses, Van Buren, as well as Zobi, Mengozzi (Monte dei Paschi), Monumenta del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, Muratori (Antichita` Estense), Sanudo (Vite), etc. Am grateful for the Cantos and like to express my wonder at the immense reading you have made.
Mary de Rachewiltz has sent me a copy of Confucio, a neat production. (Since the publisher has also sent me two copies, I shall deposit one in the Harvard Library). In what stage are the two Cantos announced for the next issue of the Hudson? If they contain Chinese items, I oVer myself as a proof-reader, if you
are willing.
Yours [signed] Achilles Fang
Zobi: Antonio Zobi, Storia civile della Toscana dal MDCCXXXVII al MDCCCXLVIII, 5 vols. (1850-2), source of Cantos 42-5, 50 (Terrell, 170, 192).
Mengozzi: Narciso Mengozzi, ed. , Il Monte dei Paschi di Siena e le Aziende in Esso Riunite, 9 vols. (1891-1925), source of Cantos 35, 42-5, 50 (Terrell, 139, 170, 192).
Monumenta . . . Venezia: Giambattista Lorenzi, Monumenti per servire alla storia del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia (1868), source of Canto 25 (Terrell, 99).
Muratori: L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xxii (1733), source of Canto 26 (Terrell, 103). Confucio: Confucio (1955) with Mary de Rachewiltz's Italian translation of Fang's ''A Note on the
Stone-Classics. ''
the two Cantos: Cantos 88-9 in Hudson Review, 8/2 (Summer 1955).
? 156 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
123 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 4 Feb [1956]
Pleasant to Wnd Ch. El Norton in Santayana Letters
saving what a lousy hole is Haaavud.
IF Wilson has grounds for puttin the blame on yu/<if you are waiting to
satisfy your letch for precision> Gaw Damn it/there is NO alphabetic repre- sentation of chinese sound, let alone any fad of spelling it in amurkn alPHAbet that will Wt 27 diVerent kinds of chinkese thru 3000 years/
You can identify Hou Chi with fertility hoocheyKoochey if yu spell it CHI but as they pronounce it JE/
it takes ten years if you dont HEAR sombuddy SAY it Wnd a nice li'l JE-tzu in
his presepio [crib] long before the deWlements of kikery.
and HOW the HELL do yu expect me to improve the translations UNTIL I
have some approx sound AND the seal text opposite the present version/[?
Shuo-wen: see Glossary on Xu Shen.
112 EP to Fang (TL-2; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 18 Giugn [ June]/[1954]
yes, my Achilles,
ber' nice introduction.
VERY glad the photo is on destructable jacket not in volume itself.
WHEN the real edition is done, there shd/alzo be a[n] index, or table of
contents, or both, of the poEMZ.
Now the jacket is VERY interesting, AND on some future occasion when the
Hnbl FANG is present, coram, IN person, his anonymous correspondent will attempt to explain moeurs [customs] of the utter barbarians to banished celestial LAMPRA SUMBAINAI [symbolic light] perhaps. We await the real edition.
Van der Loon/Leiden E. J. Brill 1943/did an index which cd/be oVset/or rather one wd/oVset his Wrst and second colums, and then give Wrst lines as in my version. no need of alphabetical chinese romanj.
In fact I reckon the simple list of contents with Wrst lines of the english wd/be suYcient.
some stewdent might be given a pass mark for tabulating Hid, hid
Shade o' the vine
She: Curl grass
In the South be drooping trees.
Locusts a-wing
O omen tree/ in fact if nobuddy wants to do, I might even have a go at it myself. It is the most BEEyewteeful anthology in the world, and CONFUCIO had
more to do with making it than had yr/anon/crspdt
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 147
perhaps the hnbl F/g shd hv/enc/for his Wle the buzzard who sent it did not, if I recall say what smear sheet conveyed the item of infamy.
In any case they putt the portrait on the BACK cover and the hnbl Kuan's Wnger on the FRONT cover is O. K. since/or even not since/THAT is good emphasis/GOOD, yes, grampa pleased with that. IF however the hnbl FANG will consult Marsano edtn Guido, he will encounter a diVerent Anschauung.
Salute the member of his family.
Not knowing IF or what goDDAMMbrit is dealing with what/, I limit addition to the addresses of (review copies) ABC, co/Boris de Rachewiltz
33 via Quattro Fontane
Il CaVe ?
co/G. B. Vicari via Salaria 334 Roma Italy.
(I am putting men, with names of papers where they will see that a review gets printed.
Camillo Pellizzi 12 via d Villa Albani, Roma
Carlo Scarfoglio
(haven't address of paper where he writes; send him co/O. R. Agresti, 36 via
Ciro Monotti. <Largo Pon chielli 4 Roma> He has just done large blurb in Paese Sera/havn't that address, issue for June 16th/
The CaVe ? splurges are in March and April issues. Absence is making the EyeTalYan heart grow fonder.
Mark the above/''review copies. ''
Ask the Mercure de France, 26 rue de Conde ? , Paris V, IF they desire copy for review? dont send it until they say YES.
AND you can transfer the personal names in yester letter to the ADVERTIS- ING column. and add
Stanislas de Yankowski/co Mrs Demant 540 East Ab 28 Los Angeles 31
Pinkafornia (which yu be'r spell Cal on the henvelope. he is now on TRAXINIAI
Old Yarp has been asked to state that SOPHOKLES wrote the play. similar ideogramic or sense of permanence wd/become.
the utter barbarians: the reference is to the typography of EP's name larger than that of Confucius. F/g shd hv/enc/: an enclosed clipping of news from Tokyo: ''Peking Working on an Alphabet. '' Kuan's Wnger: in a letter to EP of 14 June 1954, Fang explains: ''As for the picture of the Wve Wngers on
the front cover, it is that of Kuan P'ing-hu . . . [my wife] Ilse's lute (k'in) teacher in Peking--one
of the foremost masters of the ancient instrument'' (Beinecke).
Boris de Rachewiltz: see Glossary on De Rachewiltz, Boris.
G. B. Vicari: Giambattista Vicari (1909-78), publisher of EP's Carta da Visita (1942), founded the
review Il CaVe ? in 1945.
Carlo Scarfoglio: in 1964 journalist Carlo Scarfoglio (1887-1964) published an Italian version of EP's
Classic Anthology (Gallup, D81b).
? ? ? ? ? 148
a. fang and pound's classic anthology
113
EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
?
without arogance?
They have been using a plain bit of print font/I asked x for a proper one made
with brush, but La Sibille says it shows arogance.
I had not looked at it carefully/neither the tree [? ] grows as tree, nor does
the piled wood have weight, and the axe [? ] is Xighty.
Now there are feelings to be considered. Those of the olblging wielder of the
brush and black ink/
BUT there is also the higher aim/
I forget if yu hv/old Legge's 4 bks/pirated edtn/in which the tree is a TREE
(title page)
None of the vanity of the RAYS/in the Jap hand, used for the Fenollosa. Know anything about a buzzard named Chang Kuangchi acc/Morgan itz a
nuthr of 'em, not Carson [Chang].
? : ? ['make it new'] appears in Cantos 87, 93, and 94.
La Sibille: Veronica Huilan Sun (see Glossary).
Chang Kuangchi: K. C. Chang (1931-2001), author of The Archaeology of Ancient China (1968) and
numerous other books.
Morgan: Frederick Morgan (1922-2004), editor of the Hudson Review.
114 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
June 24, 1954
Dear Mr Pound,
Mrs DuVy told me that she had the 8 review copies and 5 advertising copies all
mailed to the addresses you gave me. She further told me that she had your 9 copies mailed to DP.
As I wrote in my last, the Press is out to kill: they sent out quite a number of review and advertising copies themselves, so much so that the stock of their free copies is practically exhausted. I wonder if I can ask them to give a couple of free copies to me. (May I impose on you to the extent of requesting you to honor me with a copy of (out of ) your lot, --with appropriate inscription. If you don't have any to spare, I shall not feel unhappy either. )
O my Achilles
have yu a Kalligraphist who can make a hsin [new or make it new] sign
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 21 Jun/[1954]
? eye suppose.
a. fang and pound's classic anthology 149
Am enclosing SIN [? ]. Are you planning to re-issue any of your books? Yours
[signed] Achilles Fang
115 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 27 Jun [1954]
O FANG
yu are certainly welcome to two copies or whatso yu can bone out of the
LOCAL powers/
and D. P. <[in DP's hand:] with pleasure> will probably consent to carry a
signed copy to the post/at any rate a signature is at yr/hnrb disposal.
Now as to character showing in brush strokes/Hui Lan gave a feathery axe etc. The YOUNG using that hsin sign as basis, point out the solidity of the plain damn
print block.
queery [:] DOES the tree grow and STAND/has the wood pile weight, will
the AXE cut, or at any rate strike hard [? ] The young said re/my clumsy attempts in ANALECTS/frontpiece yes, they were clumsy but humble
AS to PLANNING//dirty word/I am ever blasting at pubrs/to get on with JOB/
However, the Sq/$/and possibly Scheiwiller are BUILDIING basic kulch/fer wops [Italians] and yanks/
The author is not the person to be pestered/clean men should blast kick DAMN and push pubrs/Mc hoRRse has velleity/The fringe has DELAYity.
Jobs are TOLD 'em/then time meanders.
Remember I want <to see> front matter of real EDITION when and/or/if. Cause there is something more to print in that front. In fact I think something was missed out, this time, but it don't matter.
Hui Lan: see Glossary on Sun, Veronica Huilan.
Sq/$: the Square Dollar series copublished by John Kasper and David Horton reissued EP's favorite
works in booklets that sold for a dollar.
Scheiwiller: see Glossary on Scheiwiller, Vanni.
Mc hoRRse: New Directions managing editor Bob MacGregor.
116 EP to Fang (AL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] [3 September 1954]
150 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
? opposite p. 155 stone classics, or rather is it a way of writing p'ing ? [just, equal, peaceful]
mathews 5303.
& if not what?
-----------
near to benevolence but the strokes sure do seem to be put on diVerently.
? : in Unwobbling Pivot EP renders ? ? ? ? ? as ''energy is near to benevolence'' (Confucius, 155). See also Canto 93/648-9:
? li4
? hsing2 ? chin4 ? hu1 2154 ? je^n2
holding that energy is near to benevolence.
117 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
9/12/54
Dear Mr Pound,
Under the date of Dec. 6, I wrote to Farrar as follows:
Harvard University Press has forwarded to me your letter of inquiry about The Classic Anthology of Ezra Pound. I am sorry to disappoint you but I have no information as to when and under what circumstances Mr Pound pro- duced the work you admire so much. All that I know is that Mr Pound executed the translation all by himself and that he spent much eVort on the scholarly apparatus to be published soon in the second edition of the book.
Once more I apologize for my inability to oVer you any information. ''All by himself,'' because a number of people have asked me, just because
I wrote the introduction, if I had helped with translation.
''The second edition''--loose language, of course.
Abstained from entering into the matter concerning Bollingen. Since I were
not to quote you, I can't take the matter into my hand.
The Press is mailing a copy of the book to Mr Moore as you desire.
Yours [signed] Achilles
Farrar: Robert Farrar and Stanley Rinehart in New York issued the Wrst American editions of A Draft of XXX Cantos (1933) and The Fifth Decad (1937).
Mr Moore: The American poet and psychiatrist Merrill Moore (1903-57) visited EP in 1952 and 1954.
? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 151
118 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] [29 January 1955]
ages before the year of the sheep [1955]/Herr [Mr] Fang sent a work in krautisch/nippisch und chink/by KUNZE. given my imperfect knowledge of krautisch, HAS Mr Fang ANY idea what bloodysodam Herr Kunze thought he was up to?
A totally unreliable source told me Weenie's [Harvard] were GOING to print a decent edtn/of the ODES.
a man of probably very bad character enquires IF?
I gather Mr Personal-violence (or Force-of-Nature) [Tze-chiang] Chao is unknown to you. He has an admiration, most respectable, for Tu Fu.
whether any celestial [Chinese] can be mentioned in presence of, or in letter to, any OTHER celestial (any more than with a damWOpp [Italian]) I do not know. Li Ki may have some light on subject but it has not reached me. Neither has
current Hudson YET, tho I hear that blue ink has been employed. ----------
29 Jan/and will be posted I spose domani [tomorrow] o lunedi [Monday]
this day recd/one dried tortoise shell with remarks in probably hindoostani, possibly sanscrit, and arabic. Any demand for this ware among the high intelligentsia?
KUNZE: Reiner Kunze, Praktisches Zeichenlexikon chinesisch-deautsch-japanisch: 6000 Zeichen etymolo- gisch erklart mit neum praktischen Schlasse (1938). See Letter 119.
current Hudson: Hudson Review, 7/4 ([1954/]1955) with Canto 85.
119 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
3/II/55
Dear Mr Pound,
I haven't heard that Herr Kunze passed sinological aptitude test, nor does his
Zeichenlexikon indicate its author as possessing high sinological I. Q.
I forced the book upon you imprimis [Wrstly] because I (or rather meine Gattin [my wife]) thought (at that time she did not know that you had thumbed through Mathews more than she had done) the book with numerous clear-type ideograms might be of some use to you, secundo [secondly]--I (not Ilse) thought you might take kindly (not that you weren't kind) to the unfortunates
in S. Liz's, who seemed to me saner than Herr Kunze.
152 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
Who's this Chao? Not Chao Yuen-ren. (Half of Chinese verse-mongers are for Li Po, and the other half for Tu Fu. ) A certain William Hung, D. D. (here at Harvard), native missionary, in 1952 published an unreadable book (Harvard Press) entitled TU FU, China's Greatest Poet. (Preface: Bible and Tu Fu are the two greatest books to Hung pater Wliusque [father and son]. )
Please enlighten me on Weenie's project. Haven't heard anything about the Odes project.
As for the scratched tortoise-shell, I am really interested. I always thought that Chinks were the only ones who had socalled oracle-bones. It would be very interesting to see what the East Indians scratched on crustacean. I know no Sanskrit, but there are people here who read it without much trouble (I hope). It may turn out to be a real Ch. specimen (Hsia Dynasty). Grateful if DP could consign the shell to mail when she goes to the PO next time.
Notice a short prose-piece in japonaise by Reck (on VOU) in that egregious ''Poetlore. ''
Yours [signed] Achilles
Chao Yuen-ren: mathematician, linguist, and composer Zhao Yuanren compiled Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese (1947).
William Hung: William Hung, Tu Fu, China's Greatest Poet and Notes for Tu Fu, China's Greatest Poet, 2 vols. (1952).
Reck: Michael Reck traveled to Japan in 1953. In a letter Katue Kitasono, of the avant-garde poetry journal VOU, reports: ''I was surprised to see him speak Japanese so Xuently'' (Pound/Japan, 125).
120 EP to Fang (TL-1)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 7 Feb [1955]
o ACHilles/estimated age of turtle (shell) about 80 years/age of animal at date of demise, uncertain.
Inscription presumably made by friend of Gege, as I don't spose SHE knows enuf snskrt or even aRABik to have done it herself.
The term WEENIE, diminutive of one of the minor poets of the Spewsfeld era/both of 'em Harvard men of the WORST variety hence application of term to institution for degradation of learning which feeds yu
? ? ? ?
mr Chao Tse-Chiang (''personal violence'' or ''force of nature,'' as yu choose
to select from Mathews' list of whichwhats. He LIKES his Tu Fu. AT any rate brot in several Tu Fu that I did not know and was glad to read.
-----------
? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 153
''Gege'' is I take it diminutive for ''Virginia,'' whether blonde or brunet, I do not know. I LIKE to get letters and even oddities from the enthusiastic (presumably) young.
As Stock is sailing from Orstraliaaa to Napoli, I am telling Igor to see him/ and asking Boris to certify nature of his kid broth.
Gege: ''Gege'' corresponded with EP from 1955 to 1956 (Lilly). Stock: see Glossary on Stock, Noel.
Igor: see Glossary on De Rachewiltz, Igor.
Boris: see Glossary on De Rachewitz, Boris.
121 Fang to EP (TLS-3; Beinecke)
Dear Mr Pound,
Here are errata for [Canto] 85 489: i ? i
moao ? /read/ moua ?
po ? u
gn^? ng
(last line). palatiam/read/palatium
492: cymba et remis/read/cymba et remus
Praecognita/read/Praecogita
494: ta ? houe ? i Meng ts ? ? n/read/Me ? ng
Heo ? u Tsi/read/Heo ? u Ts ? i
Ping/read/Pin
Ts'oung ta`n ming/read/Ts'o ? ung ta`n m^? ng ? ? ?
Don't you want to write
Ta`n ts'o ? ung m^? ng ? ? ?
(as in Couvreur)? tso ? iue^n heo^u / read / heo ? u
495: che`u t's`? / read / tche`u ts'^?
na`i tcheu` t's`? / read / na`i tche`u ts'^?
? Shouldn't it be ? ? For ? is Pt IV, Ch. III while both ? and ? ? are in pt. IV, Ch. IV.
496: ? /read ? (the Wrst is li4, M3854)
? p'ei/read p'e ? i
497: (t'ien4)/read/t'ien1 (presuming that it is ? ). 498: T'SOU KIA/read/TSOU KIA
[Cambridge, Mass. ] 4/III/55
? ? ? 154 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
OU' TING/read/OU TING
wei tcheng tcheu/read/we^i tche ? ng tche ? u/or/wei tcheng tcheu.
499: kiao ? , chiao 1-4 ?
hsu ? , in the Wrst tone Shouldn't the lines be inverted? ? Hio ? ko`u jo ? u koua`n/read/Hio ? ko ? u jo ? u kou ? an (? ? ? ? )
500: Halloran/read/Holohan (assuming that it refers to Major William V. Holohan)
Houng Ieo/read? Houng Iao
501: ? read ? (the Wrst doesn't exist). M 4373.
- - - - - -Query
487: Galileo's Dialogo sopra i due massimi Sistemi del Mondo Tolemaico e
Copernicano (Wnished in 1630 and published in 1632) was put on the Index per Decr. 23 Aug. 1634 (cf. Index, ed. 1758).
Copernicus' De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium was indexed March 5, 1616, with the priviso usque corrigetur (Encyclopedia Br. s. v. Galileo). 1758 Index lists this book with the priviso nisi fuerint correcti juxta emendationem editam anno 1620, Decr. 15 Maii 1620 (this refers to the fact that Cardinal Gaetani completed his revision of the book in 1620).
Now, in 1616 G had to recant his heliocentric theory. Perhaps by ''indexed'' you
are referring to this.
Failed to discover anywhere that Cleopatra wrote of the currency.
May I have the source? And the sources of
1. che funge (500) (Mussolini? If so, ubi? )
2. e canta la gallina (495) ? ? ? ? (Courveur p. 185)
3. ''Liking some, disliking others, doing injustice to no man''(495) 4. the sheltered grass hopes, chueh, cohere (488) ? ? ?
5. Hulled rice and silk at easter
(with the bachi held under their aprons From T'ang's time until now)
6. UBIJUSVAGUM(doesitrefertoUBIJUSINCERTUM,IBIJUSNULLUM? ) 7. ''cui ditta e` dentro'' (does it refer to Purg. 24. 53-54: ed a quel modo che
ditta dentro, . . . ? )
8. SAGETRIEB (bis) ? (Frobenius? ubinam? )
Otherwise 85 is perlucid to me. Shall be very happy to have my mind cleared about the 8 hard nuts.
Yours [signed] Achilles Fang
By the way, Couvreur's tone system is:
1 ? 2^ '3 4' 5'
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a. fang and pound's classic anthology 155
490-491
? perhaps better ? ? ? ? ?
errata for 85: in the Wrst Italian and American editions of Rock-Drill (September 1955, March 1956)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ''moao ? '' becomes ''moua,'' ''Meng'' becomes ''Me ? ng,'' and ? (not ? ) is inserted to justify 4
''tien . ''
Frobenius: see Glossary on Frobenius, Leo.
122 Fang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
[Cambridge, Mass. ]
May 3, 1955
Dear Mr Pound,
Jack Hawkes, to whom I forwarded your letter, has expressed his apology and
promises to please you when he takes care of the major edition. (I met him weeks ago, but have been too busy to convey his message to you. )
Have been educating myself by taking the Cantos as my sextant: gone through JeVerson, Adamses, Van Buren, as well as Zobi, Mengozzi (Monte dei Paschi), Monumenta del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, Muratori (Antichita` Estense), Sanudo (Vite), etc. Am grateful for the Cantos and like to express my wonder at the immense reading you have made.
Mary de Rachewiltz has sent me a copy of Confucio, a neat production. (Since the publisher has also sent me two copies, I shall deposit one in the Harvard Library). In what stage are the two Cantos announced for the next issue of the Hudson? If they contain Chinese items, I oVer myself as a proof-reader, if you
are willing.
Yours [signed] Achilles Fang
Zobi: Antonio Zobi, Storia civile della Toscana dal MDCCXXXVII al MDCCCXLVIII, 5 vols. (1850-2), source of Cantos 42-5, 50 (Terrell, 170, 192).
Mengozzi: Narciso Mengozzi, ed. , Il Monte dei Paschi di Siena e le Aziende in Esso Riunite, 9 vols. (1891-1925), source of Cantos 35, 42-5, 50 (Terrell, 139, 170, 192).
Monumenta . . . Venezia: Giambattista Lorenzi, Monumenti per servire alla storia del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia (1868), source of Canto 25 (Terrell, 99).
Muratori: L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xxii (1733), source of Canto 26 (Terrell, 103). Confucio: Confucio (1955) with Mary de Rachewiltz's Italian translation of Fang's ''A Note on the
Stone-Classics. ''
the two Cantos: Cantos 88-9 in Hudson Review, 8/2 (Summer 1955).
? 156 a. fang and pound's classic anthology
123 EP to Fang (TL-1; Beinecke)
[St Elizabeths Hospital] [Washington, DC] 4 Feb [1956]
Pleasant to Wnd Ch. El Norton in Santayana Letters
saving what a lousy hole is Haaavud.
IF Wilson has grounds for puttin the blame on yu/<if you are waiting to
satisfy your letch for precision> Gaw Damn it/there is NO alphabetic repre- sentation of chinese sound, let alone any fad of spelling it in amurkn alPHAbet that will Wt 27 diVerent kinds of chinkese thru 3000 years/
You can identify Hou Chi with fertility hoocheyKoochey if yu spell it CHI but as they pronounce it JE/
it takes ten years if you dont HEAR sombuddy SAY it Wnd a nice li'l JE-tzu in
his presepio [crib] long before the deWlements of kikery.
and HOW the HELL do yu expect me to improve the translations UNTIL I
have some approx sound AND the seal text opposite the present version/[?
