In any case, it's possible that my impressions are completely wrong because almost nobody in the West has access to information, even of the most
rudimentary
kind.
Ezra-Pounds-Chinese-Friends-Stories-in-Letters
Wang contacted Miss Tseng's delegation but she had already left (Letter 156 n.
).
The excerpts from EP's letters to his parents included here have been published before, 5, 6, and 8 in Angela Jung Palandri, ''The 'Seven Lakes Canto' Revisited'' (Paideuma, 3/1 (1974)), and 7 in Hugh Kenner, ''More on the Seven Lakes Canto'' (Paideuma, 2/1 (1973)) and Richard Taylor, ''Canto XLIX, Futurism, and the Fourth Dimension'' (Neohelicon (Budapest), 20/1 (1993)).
? Fig. 2. 1. ''Night Rain'' from EP's screen book. (Mary de Rachewiltz)
? Fig. 2. 2. ''Autumn Moon'' (right), ''Evening Bell'' (center), ''Sailboats Returning'' (left) from EP's screen book. (Mary de Rachewiltz)
? Fig. 2. 3. Pao Swen Tseng, 1928. (Tunghai University Library)
? Fig. 2. 4. Pao Swen Tseng and Yueh-nung Tseng, 1955. (Tunghai University Library)
5
Dear Mother: [. . . ]
EP to Isabel Pound (TLS-1; Beinecke)
Via Marsala, 12 Int. 5 Rapallo 1 March [1928]
[. . . ]
Dear Dad: [. . . ]
[signed] E
miss tseng and the seven lakes canto 15
D[orothy] is up a mountain with a returned missionary. Yes Chinese book arrived, berry interestin', returned missionary promises us a descendant of Confucius on a month or so, who will prob. be able to decipher it.
6 EP to Homer Pound (ALS-2; Beinecke)
30 May [1928]
Wien
They are poems on a set of scenes in Miss Thseng's part of the country. Sort of habit of people to make pictures & poems on that set of scenes.
Translation of chinese poems in picture book is at Rapallo.
[. . . ]
[signed] Ez
7 EP to Homer Pound (TL-3; Beinecke)
Dear Dad: [. . . ]
Chinese book reads as follows, rough trans. Rain, empty river,
Place for soul to travel
(or room to travel)
Frozen cloud, Wre, rain damp twilight.
One lantern inside boat cover (i. e. sort of shelter, not awning on small boat)
Via Marsala, 12 Int. 5 Rapallo 30 July. [1928]
16 miss tseng and the seven lakes canto
Throws reXection on bamboo branch, causes tears. ///////
AUTUMN MOON ON TON-Ting Lake
West side hills
screen oV evening clouds
Ten thousand ripples send mist over cinnamon Xowers. Fisherman's Xute disregards nostalgia
Blows cold music over cottony bullrush.
Monastery evening bell
/////
Cloud shuts oV the hill, hiding the temple
Bell audible only when wind moves toward one,
One can not tell whether the
summit, is near or far,
Sure only that one is in hollow of mountains.
//////////////
Autumn tide,
AUTUMN TIDE, RETURNING SAILS
Touching <green> sky at horizon, mists in suggestion of autumn Sheet of silver reXecting the all that one sees
Boats gradually fade, or are lost in turn of the hills,
Only evening sun, and its glory on the water remain.
//////////// Spring in hill valley
Small wine Xag waves in the evening sun
Few clustered houses sending up smoke
A few country people enjoying their evening drink In time of peace, every day is like spring.
SNOW ON RIVER
Cloud light, world covered with <milky> jade Small boat Xoats like a leaf
Tranquil water congeals it to stillness
In Sai Yin there dwell people of leisure.
The people of Sai Yin are unhurried.
//////
Wild geese stopping on sand
Just outside window, light against clouds
Light clouds show in sky just beyond window ledge A few lines of autumn geese on the marsh
at their Bullrishes have burst into snow-tops
? ? ? ? miss tseng and the seven lakes canto 17
The birds stop to preen their feathers. &&&&&&
EVENING IN SMALL FISHING VILLAGE. Fisherman's light blinks
Dawn begins, with light to the south and north Noise of children hawking their Wsh and crawWsh Fisherman calls his boy, and takes up his wine bottle, They drink, they lie on the sand
and point to marsh-grass, talking.
Chinese book reads as follows: EP's typescript consists of three leaves. According to Richard Taylor, ''Canto XLIX, Futurism, and the Fourth Dimension,'' at some point before March 1965, the last two leaves ''were accidentally transposed,'' leading Hugh Kenner to transcribe the text (March 1965) in the order of A-B/F-G-H/C-D-E in ''More on the Seven Lakes Canto. ''
8 EP to Homer Pound (TLS-2; Beinecke)
Sept. 1 [1928]
Dear Dad:
Given inWnite time I MIGHT be able to read a Chinese poem, thass to say I know
how the ideograph works, and can Wnd 'em in the dictionary or vocabulary, BUT I shd. scarcely attempt it unless there were some urgent reason. Also
some of the script in that book was fairly fancy.
For Cathay I had a crib made by Mori and Ariga, not translation or anything
shaped into sentences, but word for sign, and explanation with each character. For your book Miss Thseng, descendant of Kung read out the stuV to me. Am perfectly able to look up an ideograph and see what shade it can be given,
etc.
BUT it za matr of time. wd be no point in it.
No I am not a sinologue. Dont spread the idea that I read it a zeasy as a
yourapean langwidg. [. . . ]
E.
Mori and Ariga: see Glossary on Mori Kainan and Ariga Nagao respectively.
[Rapallo]
? 3
Yang as Pound's Opponent and Collaborator
''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery''
In 1937-8 Pound regularly spent four to Wve hours a day learning Chinese. From James Legge's bilingual Confucian Four Books he moved on to the Confucian Book of Odes, Shi jing, in the original. ''I MAY be able to read in time, at the rate of three lines a day,'' he told the Japanese poet Katue Kitasono, who sent him Shi jing in four volumes (Pound/Japan, 45). To write about China and to begin to translate the Confucian Four Books, Pound could not rely only on his own sets of Chinese-English dictionaries and Legge's bilingual Confucian Four Books. Starting from the late summer of 1939, almost every time he traveled to Rome, he would stop by the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East (IsMEO) (see Fig. 3. 1) to look up some Chinese materials, and it was there that he met the Chinese instructor Fengchi Yang.
Fengchi Yang(Yang Fengqi ? ? ? , 1908-70) had been an assistant professor of modern history at Beijing's Qinghua University (see Fig. 3. 2). He came to Italy around 1935 to pursue a higher degree. When he and Pound Wrst met in September 1939, Yang had just earned a doctorate in letters from the University of Rome and was beginning to teach Chinese at the IsMEO. As an ''enemy alien,'' he would soon lose his job. It was not until the Italian fascist regime collapsed in 1944 that he was able to return to the IsMEO.
To continue a conversation at the IsMEO Library, Pound wrote to Yang on 2 October 1939. He was then seriously deluded about Japanese culpability for the war in China. His letters, like his 1941-3 radio broadcasts from Rome, are characterized by Italian fascism and anti-Semitism. In his Wrst letter he tried to convince Yang that China's worst enemy was not Japan but ''international usury'' (Letter 9). Not hearing from Yang for ten months, Pound wrote again on 22 August 1940, this time questioning the moral foundation of the Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek: ''I hear that Chiang Kai-shek was converted to Christianity, which seems WRONG for a Chinese'' (Letter 10). While Pound's intention was to challenge Yang to a debate, he did not want to alienate him. So he quoted the Confucian epigram, ''? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? '' (see Fig. 3. 3).
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 19
The phrase from Legge's bilingual Four Books would come back to his mind in mid-1945, and consequently it surfaces in Canto 77 with an English translation: ''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery. ''
In his reply Yang called Chiang ''the greatest and bravest statesman''; because he was trying to save China, Chiang ''always had the esteem of the Chinese people, and naturally also of our troops'' (Letter 11). As to Chiang's moral principles, Yang explained, they were modern and democratic as set forth by Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China.
In his next letter Pound was careful to acknowledge his ignorance about Chinese reality. However, he irritated Yang by stating that ''foreigners who have learned something from China have almost always had to INVADE it, later absorbing the culture'' (Letter 12). Yang's rebuttal of this simplistic assertion was blunt: ''It is not always true, as you said, that foreigners had to invade China to learn or take something from the country. For example, Korea and Indochina have absorbed Chinese culture without invading it'' (Letter 13).
Subsequently, Pound wrote in a more reserved manner, as if apologizing for his earlier impertinence. In one letter he conceded that China had a just claim to its sovereignty. Yang inXuenced Pound toward a slightly better understanding of the conXict between China and Japan. This does not suggest, however, that Pound changed his political view. He still believed ''? ? ? ? ? . '' The Mencian epigram is inscribed in Letter 16, just as its English translation is appended to Canto 78: ''In 'The Spring and Autumn' j there j are j no j righteous j wars. '' More than several times what Pound said to Yang can be related to the Pisan Cantos (Cantos 74-84), whose Chinese quotations his Confucian studies during World War II anticipated.
While the politics of Pound and Yang diverged, their literary interests shared much common ground. Throughout the years 1939-42 Yang served as an informant. He helped Pound locate various Chinese books and identify numer- ous Chinese characters. His assistance became vital in 1941-2 when Pound took up translating into Italian two of the Confucian Four Books. Pound sent Yang part of his draft of the Ta S'eu (1942) for evaluation. As Letter 21 testiWes, Yang approved not only Pound's Italian translation but also his inserted commentary. In his reply Pound could not resist repeating his usual observation about translation and about the ''ideogram'': ''And in a classical and ancient text, I think one has to preserve the original meanings of the ideograms, and not to follow the formless and colorless value given words in a newspaper of today'' (Letter 22). In that letter Pound also disclosed his intention to translate into Italian all four of the Confucian Four Books: Wrst ''Ta S'eu'' and then ''Mencius, one book at a time. ''
Pound's plan was cut short upon his arrest for making pro-fascist radio broad- casts from Rome. On 3 May 1945 he was ''working on the Mencius when the Partigiani came to the front door with a tommy-gun'' (Letters in Captivity, 113).
? Fig. 3. 1. EP in Rome, c. 1941. (HRHRC)
? Fig. 3. 2. Fengchi Yang, c. 1960. (Lionello Lanciotti)
? Fig. 3. 3. Letter 10. (Beinecke)
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 23
9 EP to Yang (TL-2; LL/Beinecke)
2 Ott [October 1939]
Illmo Dott Yang Fengchi
Caro Dottore Yang (se questo e` il nome di famiglia, e Caro Dottore Fengchi
se questo e` il patronimico)
Non dubito dell'eroismo di Ch[i]ang Kai Chek, e sono stato tanto contento
[di] incontrarVi perche volevo sapere precisamente il punto di vista della Cina interiore. MA
? ?
Non so se voi ed il Generale [si] rendono contro [conto] del grado in cui
TUTTI i NOMI, tutte le parole sono stato falsiWcato nell'occidente. Le demo- crazie non lo sono, sono USUROCRAZIE.
Io credo che il peggior nemico della Cina non e` <Giappone> ma ? ? ?
specialmente quell'usura internazionale.
La rivoluzione Russa intendeva attaccare al capitale, ma invece fu pervertito e deviene [divenne] un attacco alla proprieta`. Forse adesso Stalin incomincia a renders[i] conto.
Spero vederVi presto a Roma la settimana prossima, ed intanto vi prego di credere che quando dico pace con onore non intendo un onore vuoto. Ho una fede nell'immortalita` della Cina e credo che nessun studente della storia puo` mancare d'averla ma ho visto mio paese trad[i]to; cioe` ho appreso del tradi- mento settant'anni DOPO IL FATTO. Mi pare che quando possibile si deve evitare tali ritardi. Non so quando la penetrazione dell'usura internazionale nella Cina ha cominciato ad essere un pericolo per Voi; o in che grado voi [vi] siete resi conto della forza e natura della penetrazione.
[In]somma posso anche benissimo avere impressioni falsissimi della s[it]uazione, perche ? quasi nessuno nell'occidente ha mezzi [di] informazione; anche rudimentarii.
cordialissimi saluti ed a presto
[Dear Dr Yang (if that's your family name, and Dear Dr Fengchi if that's your patronymic):
I do not doubt the heroism of Chiang Kai-shek. I am glad to have met you because I wanted to know the point of view of the Chinese interior, BUT ? ? [precisely named].
I don't know if you and the [Secretary] General are aware of the extent to which THE NAMES OF ALL THINGS, all words, have been falsiWed in the West. The democracies aren't democracies; they are USUROCRACIES.
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo
? 24 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator
China's worst enemy is not Japan but ? ? ? [usury], speciWcally inter- national usury.
The Russian Revolution intended to attack capital, but instead it was perverted and became an attack on property. Perhaps now Stalin is beginning to see it.
I hope to see you in Rome next week, and meanwhile I ask you to believe that when I say peace with honor I don't mean an empty honor. I have faith in the immortality of China and I believe that no history student can fail to have this faith, but I have seen the betrayal of my country; that is, I have become aware of the betrayal seventy years AFTER IT STARTED. It seems to me if possible we have to avoid such delays. I don't know how far the penetration of international usury into China has begun to be a threat to you or to what extent you are aware of the strength and nature of the penetration.
In any case, it's possible that my impressions are completely wrong because almost nobody in the West has access to information, even of the most rudimentary kind.
Best regards, I'll see you soon. ]
(TL-2; LL/Beinecke): the second leaf of the original letter is lost. The passage from ''[In]somma posso'' (In any case) on is transcribed from its carbon copy (Beinecke).
Ch[i]ang Kai Chek: see Glossary on Chiang Kai-shek.
? ? :Earliest introduced characters in The Cantos (Canto 51/252), ? ? (pronounced zheng ming
and meaning precise naming), are taken from Analects, 13. 3 (Confucius, 249).
Generale: Secretary General Zhu (Segretario Generale Tchu). According to Achilles Fang to EP, 4 January 1951, Zhu Ying ? ? ''now attached to the Chinese Legation at Vatican . . . a resident of
Rome for the past 30 years or so'' (Lilly).
10 EP to Yang (TLS-2; LL)
Caro Dottor Yang
Dopo nostro incontro, ed avendo saputo da Valeri che siete nazionalista, del
partito di Ch[i]ang Kai Chek, ho meditato ancora una volta il testo
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Poi incontrando alcuni Giapponesi a Roma, e poi meditando ancora; mi pare che essiste [esiste] un modo di fare una pace con onore per la Cina. Naturalmente non conosco le condizioni di oggi giorno in Cina. Vorrei consultarvi, se vi interessa.
Ho sentito che Ch[i]ang Kai Chek fu convertito al Cristianesimo; che a ma [me] pare un ERRORE per un Cinese. In somma un cristiano potrebbe mettere un po' in ordine le sue idee, meditando il ? ? [? ? ], forse un Confuciano
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo 22 Ag/ [August 1940]
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 25
potrebbe derivare un stimolo dallo studio della teologia medioevale/ o qualche spint[a] per ?
?
ma NON per convertirs[i].
Una altra cosa ho sentito ma non so se sia vero. Mi e` stato detto che Ch[i]ang NON potendo arrivare al <ottenere il> morale <che voleva> dalle sue truppe, coi testi della bibbia, ha ritornato al uso dei testi confuciani.
E [E`] vero anche, o no? che lo studio dei Quattro classici fu sospeso nelle scuole col arrivo della Repub[b]lica in Cina? Lo ho sentito, di disturbi e calamita` susseguente non m'hanno sorpreso.
Forse Ch[i]ang non ha avuto tempo di riXettare [riXettere] sul ritmo della storia della Cina? Forse vuol fare in dieci anni quello che avvera` solamente in 160 anni?
Tutta questa lettera deve leggersi come interrogativa. A questa distanza non si puo` SAPERE. Ma qualche volta a distanza si vede una cosa che non sia visibile da vicino.
cordialissimi saluti [signed] Ezra Pound
[Dear Dr Yang: After our meeting I learned from Valeri that you are a Nation- alist, a member of Chiang Kai-shek's party, and I reexamined the aphorism ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery'']
Then, after meeting some Japanese in Rome and after reexamining the aphorism, it appears that there is a chance of making an honorable peace with China. Of course I don't know the present situation in China. I want to consult you on this if you are interested.
I hear that Chiang Kai-shek was converted to Christianity, which seems WRONG for a Chinese. In any case, a Christian might get his thoughts in order, meditating the ? ? [Great Learning]. Maybe a Confucian can get stimulus from studying medieval theology so a lift to ? ? [self-cultivation] but NOT to conversion.
I've heard something else and I don't know if it is true. I was told that since Chiang was NOT able to keep up the morale of his troops by using the Bible, he went back to using the Confucian texts.
Also, is it true or not that the study of the ''Four Books'' was suspended in schools with the coming of the Republic of China? I heard this, and the subsequent disturbances and calamities did not surprise me at all.
Maybe Chiang didn't have the time to think of the rhythm of Chinese history? Maybe he wanted to do in ten years what will only happen in 160?
Onemustreadthiswholeletterasaquestion. AtthisdistanceonecannotKNOW. But sometimes at a distance one sees something which is not visible close by.
Best regards. Ezra Pound]
? 26 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator Valeri: Italian poet Diego Valeri (1887-1976).
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? : Quoted from Analects, 2. 24 (Legge, i. 154; Confucius, 201). Cf. Canto 77/496: ? 7--not
? one's own ? spirit
? and
? sacriWce ? is
? Xattery
? bi gosh
? ? : Da xue, Wrst of the Confucian Four Books. See EP's English versions Ta Hio: The Great Learning of Confucius (1928) and The Great Digest (1947); and Italian version Confucio: Ta S'eu. Dai Gaku. Studio integrale (with Alberto Luchini, 1942). See also Glossary on Confucius.
? : shangzhi, ''self-cultivation,'' quoted from Mencius, 7. 1. 33 (Legge, ii. 468). In ''Mang Tsze'' (1938) EP gives the Mencian characters after stating that ''Dante's view upon rectitude rimes certainly with that of Mencius'' (SP, 84).
11 Yang to EP (ALS-3; Beinecke)
Assisi 18. 9. 40
Illmo Professore Pound
Vi prego di scusarmi il ritardo con il quale rispondo alla vostra lettera del 22
agosto. Ritardo dovuto al lungo tempo impiegato dalla vostra. Vi sono grato del ricordo ma purtroppo non sono d'accordo con le vostre idee:
Per me Chiang Kai-shek e` un grande uomo politico, il piu` grande e valoroso uomo politico che oggi ha la mia patria, uomo che vuole la m[i]a nazione grande e libera. Su cio` che riguarda la fede di Chiang verso Cristianesimo non mi posso pronunziare perche ? non la conosco. Ma la sua volonta` per salvare la Cina e`, senza alcun dubbio, grande e per questo egli ottiene sempre la stima del popolo Cinese e naturalmente anche quella delle nostre truppe le quali sono moralmente diciplinati ne` colla bibbia ne` col confucionismo, ma coi testi dei principii di Sun Yat-sen.
Gli Stati Uniti impiegarono otto anni per ottenere l'indipendenza ed in questi 160 anni non hanno avuto mai una grave minacia [minaccia] dalle potenze estere, invece la Cina?
Non date alcuna Wducia alle propagande giapponesi i quali non hanno rispettato mai l'onore della Cina. Se e` vero come avete detto, [che] oggi il Giappone vuole fare con onore uno pace con la Cina, vuole dire che la nostra difesa in questi tre anni ha corret[t]o i[l] pregiudizio del Giappone!
? Tornero` fra poco a Roma.
Saluti cordiali. Yang Fengchi
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 27
[Dear Professor Pound: I want to apologize for my delay in responding to your letter of 22 August. The delay was caused by the long time it took your letter (to arrive). I am thankful that you remember me. Unfortunately, I don't agree with your ideas.
For me Chiang Kai-shek is a great statesman, the greatest and bravest statesman my country has today, a man who wants my nation to be great and free. Regarding the belief of Chiang vs. Christianity, I can't tell you anything because I don't know. But his will to save China is without doubt great. Because of this he has always had the esteem of the Chinese people, and naturally also of our troops. Morally our troops are disciplined neither by the Bible nor by Confucianism but by the texts of Sun Yat-sen's principles.
It took the United States eight years to win independence. For as long as 160 years it never had any serious threat from foreign forces. But what about China? Don't trust Japanese propaganda because the Japanese have never respected the honor of China. If it's true, as you said, that Japan now wants to make an honorable peace with China, then this means that our defense in the past three years has remedied Japan's prejudice! I will return shortly to Rome. Regards,
Yang Fengchi]
Sun Yat-sen: (1866-1925), father of modern China. The three great principles set forth by him are nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood.
12 EP to Yang (TLS-2; LL)
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo 2 Nov [1940]
Caro Dott Yang
Potete dire al Sig Segretario Generale Tcheou [Tchu] che io ho scritto due
articoli (uno in inglese, uno in Italiano) ma non so quando (o si) saranno pubblicati.
E` molto diYcile capire perche` Wang Chin Wei non ha ragione; e perche Chiang Kai Chek non e` sbagliato in suoi rapporti (magari se ci [ce] ne sono pochi e piccoli) colla Wnanza internazionale.
Siamo ignorantissimi. Certo manca una traduzione del volume (? secondo) della vacchia enciclopedia Cinese che tratta dell economia. (Non trovo il titolo in questo momento ma un intiero volume tratta della moneta e dei questioni economici) Poi il libro di Lihaoouen (<come il nome sta> scritto in francese) Toan-pen-tang-king sse-yao potrebbe meritare una traduzione? ? <e il Ta-pao-lo, specialmente per miei studi>. Libri di questo genere non hanno bisogno, mi pare, d'edizioni bilingue, essendo la materia prosaica.
28 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator
In somma i forestieri ch hanno appreso qualche cosa della Cina hanno quasi sempre dovuto INVADERE il paese, poi assorbendo la cultura. Essezione [Eccezione] fatto per alcuni gesuiti ch hanno riportato i libri di Confuzio, e di Menzio; ed il libro delle ceremonie (Li Gi) ed alcuni poesie in Europa.
Ho letto hieri [ieri] che [il] Giappone sta ameliorando i rapporti non sola- mente colla Russia, ma anche col Australia. Invece avrebbe dovuto ameliorare i rapporti colla Cina (totale) ovvero la Cina ed il Giappone avrebbe potuto convenire in trattati coi due paesi?
Il Giappone pubblica molte in inglese. Non so se la Cina pubblica informa- zione per l'estero in qualsiasi lingua europa? Non sarebbe possibile che L'Illu- strissimo Sig Tcheou [Tchu] invita [inviti] Comm De Feo a discutere le possibilita` dei [di] scambi culturali; cioe` in particolare di traduzioni dal Cinese?
Con aggiunte di informazioni odierni?
cordialmente [signed] Ezra Pound
[Dear Dr Yang: You may tell Mr Secretary General Zhu that I've written two articles (one in English and the other in Italian) but I don't know when (or if) they are going to be published.
It's very hard to understand why Wang Jingwei is not right; why Chiang Kai- shek is not wrong in his dealings in international Wnance (but perhaps these dealings are few and unimportant).
We are very ignorant. Of course, there is no translation of the (second? ) volume of the old Chinese encyclopedia dealing with economics. (I can't remember the title right now, but an entire volume has to do with money and economic issues. )
Moreover, the Book of Lihaoouen (as it is written in French), Toan pen tang king sse yao, might be worth translating? and Ta-pao-lo, especially for my studies. It seems to me that works of this kind do not need bilingual editions because they are in prose.
Anyway, foreigners who have learned something from China have almost always had to INVADE it, later absorbing the culture. I make exceptions for those few Jesuits who brought back the books of Confucius and Mencius, the Book of Rites (Li ji), and some poems to Europe.
I read yesterday that Japan is improving its relations with Russia and Austra- lia, although it should also improve its relation with China (all China). Or else China and Japan could have joined together to deal with the two countries?
Japan publishes much in English. I don't know if China publishes any information for foreign countries in any European language. Wouldn't it be possible for the most honorable Mr Zhu to invite Comm. De Feo to discuss the possibility of cultural exchanges, which means especially translations from Chinese, with the addition of updates? Regards, Ezra Pound]
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 29
Wang Chin Wei: Wang Jingwei (1883-1944), president of the Chinese Nationalist Party (1932-8), defected in 1938. He became puppet ruler of Japanese occupied China in 1940-4.
Toan-pen-tang-king sse-yao . . . Ta-pao-lo: unidentiWed.
De Feo: Luciano De Feo, the director-selector for the First Exposition of Cinematic Art held in
Venice in 1932, was then Director General of the Italian National Institute for Cultural Exchanges (IRCE).
13 Yang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
Roma 9, 11, 40.
Caro Signor Pound
Vi ringrazio sentimente per la vostra lettera. Via mando, per informazioni,
alcuni volumetti per mezzo dei quali spero sia possibile farsi un'idea chiara della politica nazionale giapponese. Per mezzo di essi forse potete convincervi che Wang Ching-wei ha torto e Chiang Kai-shek ha ragione. Per mancanza di spazio e le altre ragioni, e` inutile intavolare per lettera una discussione come quasta [questa]. Insomma ogni paese ha diritto di essere libero e di poter vivere la sua vita (specialmente politicalmente).
Non capisco che libro sarebbe ''Ta Pen Tang King SSe Yao'' e ''Ta Pao Lo'': potete scrivermi i caratteri in cinese? Vido [Vedo] spe[s]so il sig. Tchou [Tchu]; egli mi ha detto che conosce molto bene il Comm. De Feo ed anche ha parlato, molto tempo fa, con lui riguarda agli scambi culturali fra i due paesi; ma per ora e` quasi impossibile attuare qualunque idea in quel senso. Non e` sempre vero, come avete detto, che i forestieri hanno dovuto invadere la cina per apprendere qualchecosa dal paese: per essempio la Korea e l'Indo-cina hanno assorbito la cultura cinese senza invaderla ed i Mongoli hanno una volta conquistato la Cina e non hanno appreso niente la [della] sua cultura. Il Giappone, come culturalmente, ha gia` imparato molto dalla Cina nei secoli passati, ma ades[s]o esso invade la Cina non e` per apprendere qualchecosa culturale ma su le altre ragioni imperialistici i quali non possono essere compromes [s]i da un cinese che ama la propria indipendenza del sua paese.
Cordialmente [signed] Yang Fengchi
[Dear Mr Pound: Thank you for your letter. For your reference I'm sending some pamphlets, which I hope will give you a clear idea about the nationalist politics of Japan. These may help to convince you that Wang is wrong and Chiang is right. Because of limited space and other reasons it's useless to start discussion like this in a letter.
The excerpts from EP's letters to his parents included here have been published before, 5, 6, and 8 in Angela Jung Palandri, ''The 'Seven Lakes Canto' Revisited'' (Paideuma, 3/1 (1974)), and 7 in Hugh Kenner, ''More on the Seven Lakes Canto'' (Paideuma, 2/1 (1973)) and Richard Taylor, ''Canto XLIX, Futurism, and the Fourth Dimension'' (Neohelicon (Budapest), 20/1 (1993)).
? Fig. 2. 1. ''Night Rain'' from EP's screen book. (Mary de Rachewiltz)
? Fig. 2. 2. ''Autumn Moon'' (right), ''Evening Bell'' (center), ''Sailboats Returning'' (left) from EP's screen book. (Mary de Rachewiltz)
? Fig. 2. 3. Pao Swen Tseng, 1928. (Tunghai University Library)
? Fig. 2. 4. Pao Swen Tseng and Yueh-nung Tseng, 1955. (Tunghai University Library)
5
Dear Mother: [. . . ]
EP to Isabel Pound (TLS-1; Beinecke)
Via Marsala, 12 Int. 5 Rapallo 1 March [1928]
[. . . ]
Dear Dad: [. . . ]
[signed] E
miss tseng and the seven lakes canto 15
D[orothy] is up a mountain with a returned missionary. Yes Chinese book arrived, berry interestin', returned missionary promises us a descendant of Confucius on a month or so, who will prob. be able to decipher it.
6 EP to Homer Pound (ALS-2; Beinecke)
30 May [1928]
Wien
They are poems on a set of scenes in Miss Thseng's part of the country. Sort of habit of people to make pictures & poems on that set of scenes.
Translation of chinese poems in picture book is at Rapallo.
[. . . ]
[signed] Ez
7 EP to Homer Pound (TL-3; Beinecke)
Dear Dad: [. . . ]
Chinese book reads as follows, rough trans. Rain, empty river,
Place for soul to travel
(or room to travel)
Frozen cloud, Wre, rain damp twilight.
One lantern inside boat cover (i. e. sort of shelter, not awning on small boat)
Via Marsala, 12 Int. 5 Rapallo 30 July. [1928]
16 miss tseng and the seven lakes canto
Throws reXection on bamboo branch, causes tears. ///////
AUTUMN MOON ON TON-Ting Lake
West side hills
screen oV evening clouds
Ten thousand ripples send mist over cinnamon Xowers. Fisherman's Xute disregards nostalgia
Blows cold music over cottony bullrush.
Monastery evening bell
/////
Cloud shuts oV the hill, hiding the temple
Bell audible only when wind moves toward one,
One can not tell whether the
summit, is near or far,
Sure only that one is in hollow of mountains.
//////////////
Autumn tide,
AUTUMN TIDE, RETURNING SAILS
Touching <green> sky at horizon, mists in suggestion of autumn Sheet of silver reXecting the all that one sees
Boats gradually fade, or are lost in turn of the hills,
Only evening sun, and its glory on the water remain.
//////////// Spring in hill valley
Small wine Xag waves in the evening sun
Few clustered houses sending up smoke
A few country people enjoying their evening drink In time of peace, every day is like spring.
SNOW ON RIVER
Cloud light, world covered with <milky> jade Small boat Xoats like a leaf
Tranquil water congeals it to stillness
In Sai Yin there dwell people of leisure.
The people of Sai Yin are unhurried.
//////
Wild geese stopping on sand
Just outside window, light against clouds
Light clouds show in sky just beyond window ledge A few lines of autumn geese on the marsh
at their Bullrishes have burst into snow-tops
? ? ? ? miss tseng and the seven lakes canto 17
The birds stop to preen their feathers. &&&&&&
EVENING IN SMALL FISHING VILLAGE. Fisherman's light blinks
Dawn begins, with light to the south and north Noise of children hawking their Wsh and crawWsh Fisherman calls his boy, and takes up his wine bottle, They drink, they lie on the sand
and point to marsh-grass, talking.
Chinese book reads as follows: EP's typescript consists of three leaves. According to Richard Taylor, ''Canto XLIX, Futurism, and the Fourth Dimension,'' at some point before March 1965, the last two leaves ''were accidentally transposed,'' leading Hugh Kenner to transcribe the text (March 1965) in the order of A-B/F-G-H/C-D-E in ''More on the Seven Lakes Canto. ''
8 EP to Homer Pound (TLS-2; Beinecke)
Sept. 1 [1928]
Dear Dad:
Given inWnite time I MIGHT be able to read a Chinese poem, thass to say I know
how the ideograph works, and can Wnd 'em in the dictionary or vocabulary, BUT I shd. scarcely attempt it unless there were some urgent reason. Also
some of the script in that book was fairly fancy.
For Cathay I had a crib made by Mori and Ariga, not translation or anything
shaped into sentences, but word for sign, and explanation with each character. For your book Miss Thseng, descendant of Kung read out the stuV to me. Am perfectly able to look up an ideograph and see what shade it can be given,
etc.
BUT it za matr of time. wd be no point in it.
No I am not a sinologue. Dont spread the idea that I read it a zeasy as a
yourapean langwidg. [. . . ]
E.
Mori and Ariga: see Glossary on Mori Kainan and Ariga Nagao respectively.
[Rapallo]
? 3
Yang as Pound's Opponent and Collaborator
''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery''
In 1937-8 Pound regularly spent four to Wve hours a day learning Chinese. From James Legge's bilingual Confucian Four Books he moved on to the Confucian Book of Odes, Shi jing, in the original. ''I MAY be able to read in time, at the rate of three lines a day,'' he told the Japanese poet Katue Kitasono, who sent him Shi jing in four volumes (Pound/Japan, 45). To write about China and to begin to translate the Confucian Four Books, Pound could not rely only on his own sets of Chinese-English dictionaries and Legge's bilingual Confucian Four Books. Starting from the late summer of 1939, almost every time he traveled to Rome, he would stop by the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East (IsMEO) (see Fig. 3. 1) to look up some Chinese materials, and it was there that he met the Chinese instructor Fengchi Yang.
Fengchi Yang(Yang Fengqi ? ? ? , 1908-70) had been an assistant professor of modern history at Beijing's Qinghua University (see Fig. 3. 2). He came to Italy around 1935 to pursue a higher degree. When he and Pound Wrst met in September 1939, Yang had just earned a doctorate in letters from the University of Rome and was beginning to teach Chinese at the IsMEO. As an ''enemy alien,'' he would soon lose his job. It was not until the Italian fascist regime collapsed in 1944 that he was able to return to the IsMEO.
To continue a conversation at the IsMEO Library, Pound wrote to Yang on 2 October 1939. He was then seriously deluded about Japanese culpability for the war in China. His letters, like his 1941-3 radio broadcasts from Rome, are characterized by Italian fascism and anti-Semitism. In his Wrst letter he tried to convince Yang that China's worst enemy was not Japan but ''international usury'' (Letter 9). Not hearing from Yang for ten months, Pound wrote again on 22 August 1940, this time questioning the moral foundation of the Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek: ''I hear that Chiang Kai-shek was converted to Christianity, which seems WRONG for a Chinese'' (Letter 10). While Pound's intention was to challenge Yang to a debate, he did not want to alienate him. So he quoted the Confucian epigram, ''? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? '' (see Fig. 3. 3).
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 19
The phrase from Legge's bilingual Four Books would come back to his mind in mid-1945, and consequently it surfaces in Canto 77 with an English translation: ''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery. ''
In his reply Yang called Chiang ''the greatest and bravest statesman''; because he was trying to save China, Chiang ''always had the esteem of the Chinese people, and naturally also of our troops'' (Letter 11). As to Chiang's moral principles, Yang explained, they were modern and democratic as set forth by Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China.
In his next letter Pound was careful to acknowledge his ignorance about Chinese reality. However, he irritated Yang by stating that ''foreigners who have learned something from China have almost always had to INVADE it, later absorbing the culture'' (Letter 12). Yang's rebuttal of this simplistic assertion was blunt: ''It is not always true, as you said, that foreigners had to invade China to learn or take something from the country. For example, Korea and Indochina have absorbed Chinese culture without invading it'' (Letter 13).
Subsequently, Pound wrote in a more reserved manner, as if apologizing for his earlier impertinence. In one letter he conceded that China had a just claim to its sovereignty. Yang inXuenced Pound toward a slightly better understanding of the conXict between China and Japan. This does not suggest, however, that Pound changed his political view. He still believed ''? ? ? ? ? . '' The Mencian epigram is inscribed in Letter 16, just as its English translation is appended to Canto 78: ''In 'The Spring and Autumn' j there j are j no j righteous j wars. '' More than several times what Pound said to Yang can be related to the Pisan Cantos (Cantos 74-84), whose Chinese quotations his Confucian studies during World War II anticipated.
While the politics of Pound and Yang diverged, their literary interests shared much common ground. Throughout the years 1939-42 Yang served as an informant. He helped Pound locate various Chinese books and identify numer- ous Chinese characters. His assistance became vital in 1941-2 when Pound took up translating into Italian two of the Confucian Four Books. Pound sent Yang part of his draft of the Ta S'eu (1942) for evaluation. As Letter 21 testiWes, Yang approved not only Pound's Italian translation but also his inserted commentary. In his reply Pound could not resist repeating his usual observation about translation and about the ''ideogram'': ''And in a classical and ancient text, I think one has to preserve the original meanings of the ideograms, and not to follow the formless and colorless value given words in a newspaper of today'' (Letter 22). In that letter Pound also disclosed his intention to translate into Italian all four of the Confucian Four Books: Wrst ''Ta S'eu'' and then ''Mencius, one book at a time. ''
Pound's plan was cut short upon his arrest for making pro-fascist radio broad- casts from Rome. On 3 May 1945 he was ''working on the Mencius when the Partigiani came to the front door with a tommy-gun'' (Letters in Captivity, 113).
? Fig. 3. 1. EP in Rome, c. 1941. (HRHRC)
? Fig. 3. 2. Fengchi Yang, c. 1960. (Lionello Lanciotti)
? Fig. 3. 3. Letter 10. (Beinecke)
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 23
9 EP to Yang (TL-2; LL/Beinecke)
2 Ott [October 1939]
Illmo Dott Yang Fengchi
Caro Dottore Yang (se questo e` il nome di famiglia, e Caro Dottore Fengchi
se questo e` il patronimico)
Non dubito dell'eroismo di Ch[i]ang Kai Chek, e sono stato tanto contento
[di] incontrarVi perche volevo sapere precisamente il punto di vista della Cina interiore. MA
? ?
Non so se voi ed il Generale [si] rendono contro [conto] del grado in cui
TUTTI i NOMI, tutte le parole sono stato falsiWcato nell'occidente. Le demo- crazie non lo sono, sono USUROCRAZIE.
Io credo che il peggior nemico della Cina non e` <Giappone> ma ? ? ?
specialmente quell'usura internazionale.
La rivoluzione Russa intendeva attaccare al capitale, ma invece fu pervertito e deviene [divenne] un attacco alla proprieta`. Forse adesso Stalin incomincia a renders[i] conto.
Spero vederVi presto a Roma la settimana prossima, ed intanto vi prego di credere che quando dico pace con onore non intendo un onore vuoto. Ho una fede nell'immortalita` della Cina e credo che nessun studente della storia puo` mancare d'averla ma ho visto mio paese trad[i]to; cioe` ho appreso del tradi- mento settant'anni DOPO IL FATTO. Mi pare che quando possibile si deve evitare tali ritardi. Non so quando la penetrazione dell'usura internazionale nella Cina ha cominciato ad essere un pericolo per Voi; o in che grado voi [vi] siete resi conto della forza e natura della penetrazione.
[In]somma posso anche benissimo avere impressioni falsissimi della s[it]uazione, perche ? quasi nessuno nell'occidente ha mezzi [di] informazione; anche rudimentarii.
cordialissimi saluti ed a presto
[Dear Dr Yang (if that's your family name, and Dear Dr Fengchi if that's your patronymic):
I do not doubt the heroism of Chiang Kai-shek. I am glad to have met you because I wanted to know the point of view of the Chinese interior, BUT ? ? [precisely named].
I don't know if you and the [Secretary] General are aware of the extent to which THE NAMES OF ALL THINGS, all words, have been falsiWed in the West. The democracies aren't democracies; they are USUROCRACIES.
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo
? 24 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator
China's worst enemy is not Japan but ? ? ? [usury], speciWcally inter- national usury.
The Russian Revolution intended to attack capital, but instead it was perverted and became an attack on property. Perhaps now Stalin is beginning to see it.
I hope to see you in Rome next week, and meanwhile I ask you to believe that when I say peace with honor I don't mean an empty honor. I have faith in the immortality of China and I believe that no history student can fail to have this faith, but I have seen the betrayal of my country; that is, I have become aware of the betrayal seventy years AFTER IT STARTED. It seems to me if possible we have to avoid such delays. I don't know how far the penetration of international usury into China has begun to be a threat to you or to what extent you are aware of the strength and nature of the penetration.
In any case, it's possible that my impressions are completely wrong because almost nobody in the West has access to information, even of the most rudimentary kind.
Best regards, I'll see you soon. ]
(TL-2; LL/Beinecke): the second leaf of the original letter is lost. The passage from ''[In]somma posso'' (In any case) on is transcribed from its carbon copy (Beinecke).
Ch[i]ang Kai Chek: see Glossary on Chiang Kai-shek.
? ? :Earliest introduced characters in The Cantos (Canto 51/252), ? ? (pronounced zheng ming
and meaning precise naming), are taken from Analects, 13. 3 (Confucius, 249).
Generale: Secretary General Zhu (Segretario Generale Tchu). According to Achilles Fang to EP, 4 January 1951, Zhu Ying ? ? ''now attached to the Chinese Legation at Vatican . . . a resident of
Rome for the past 30 years or so'' (Lilly).
10 EP to Yang (TLS-2; LL)
Caro Dottor Yang
Dopo nostro incontro, ed avendo saputo da Valeri che siete nazionalista, del
partito di Ch[i]ang Kai Chek, ho meditato ancora una volta il testo
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Poi incontrando alcuni Giapponesi a Roma, e poi meditando ancora; mi pare che essiste [esiste] un modo di fare una pace con onore per la Cina. Naturalmente non conosco le condizioni di oggi giorno in Cina. Vorrei consultarvi, se vi interessa.
Ho sentito che Ch[i]ang Kai Chek fu convertito al Cristianesimo; che a ma [me] pare un ERRORE per un Cinese. In somma un cristiano potrebbe mettere un po' in ordine le sue idee, meditando il ? ? [? ? ], forse un Confuciano
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo 22 Ag/ [August 1940]
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 25
potrebbe derivare un stimolo dallo studio della teologia medioevale/ o qualche spint[a] per ?
?
ma NON per convertirs[i].
Una altra cosa ho sentito ma non so se sia vero. Mi e` stato detto che Ch[i]ang NON potendo arrivare al <ottenere il> morale <che voleva> dalle sue truppe, coi testi della bibbia, ha ritornato al uso dei testi confuciani.
E [E`] vero anche, o no? che lo studio dei Quattro classici fu sospeso nelle scuole col arrivo della Repub[b]lica in Cina? Lo ho sentito, di disturbi e calamita` susseguente non m'hanno sorpreso.
Forse Ch[i]ang non ha avuto tempo di riXettare [riXettere] sul ritmo della storia della Cina? Forse vuol fare in dieci anni quello che avvera` solamente in 160 anni?
Tutta questa lettera deve leggersi come interrogativa. A questa distanza non si puo` SAPERE. Ma qualche volta a distanza si vede una cosa che non sia visibile da vicino.
cordialissimi saluti [signed] Ezra Pound
[Dear Dr Yang: After our meeting I learned from Valeri that you are a Nation- alist, a member of Chiang Kai-shek's party, and I reexamined the aphorism ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [''To sacriWce to a spirit not one's own is Xattery'']
Then, after meeting some Japanese in Rome and after reexamining the aphorism, it appears that there is a chance of making an honorable peace with China. Of course I don't know the present situation in China. I want to consult you on this if you are interested.
I hear that Chiang Kai-shek was converted to Christianity, which seems WRONG for a Chinese. In any case, a Christian might get his thoughts in order, meditating the ? ? [Great Learning]. Maybe a Confucian can get stimulus from studying medieval theology so a lift to ? ? [self-cultivation] but NOT to conversion.
I've heard something else and I don't know if it is true. I was told that since Chiang was NOT able to keep up the morale of his troops by using the Bible, he went back to using the Confucian texts.
Also, is it true or not that the study of the ''Four Books'' was suspended in schools with the coming of the Republic of China? I heard this, and the subsequent disturbances and calamities did not surprise me at all.
Maybe Chiang didn't have the time to think of the rhythm of Chinese history? Maybe he wanted to do in ten years what will only happen in 160?
Onemustreadthiswholeletterasaquestion. AtthisdistanceonecannotKNOW. But sometimes at a distance one sees something which is not visible close by.
Best regards. Ezra Pound]
? 26 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator Valeri: Italian poet Diego Valeri (1887-1976).
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? : Quoted from Analects, 2. 24 (Legge, i. 154; Confucius, 201). Cf. Canto 77/496: ? 7--not
? one's own ? spirit
? and
? sacriWce ? is
? Xattery
? bi gosh
? ? : Da xue, Wrst of the Confucian Four Books. See EP's English versions Ta Hio: The Great Learning of Confucius (1928) and The Great Digest (1947); and Italian version Confucio: Ta S'eu. Dai Gaku. Studio integrale (with Alberto Luchini, 1942). See also Glossary on Confucius.
? : shangzhi, ''self-cultivation,'' quoted from Mencius, 7. 1. 33 (Legge, ii. 468). In ''Mang Tsze'' (1938) EP gives the Mencian characters after stating that ''Dante's view upon rectitude rimes certainly with that of Mencius'' (SP, 84).
11 Yang to EP (ALS-3; Beinecke)
Assisi 18. 9. 40
Illmo Professore Pound
Vi prego di scusarmi il ritardo con il quale rispondo alla vostra lettera del 22
agosto. Ritardo dovuto al lungo tempo impiegato dalla vostra. Vi sono grato del ricordo ma purtroppo non sono d'accordo con le vostre idee:
Per me Chiang Kai-shek e` un grande uomo politico, il piu` grande e valoroso uomo politico che oggi ha la mia patria, uomo che vuole la m[i]a nazione grande e libera. Su cio` che riguarda la fede di Chiang verso Cristianesimo non mi posso pronunziare perche ? non la conosco. Ma la sua volonta` per salvare la Cina e`, senza alcun dubbio, grande e per questo egli ottiene sempre la stima del popolo Cinese e naturalmente anche quella delle nostre truppe le quali sono moralmente diciplinati ne` colla bibbia ne` col confucionismo, ma coi testi dei principii di Sun Yat-sen.
Gli Stati Uniti impiegarono otto anni per ottenere l'indipendenza ed in questi 160 anni non hanno avuto mai una grave minacia [minaccia] dalle potenze estere, invece la Cina?
Non date alcuna Wducia alle propagande giapponesi i quali non hanno rispettato mai l'onore della Cina. Se e` vero come avete detto, [che] oggi il Giappone vuole fare con onore uno pace con la Cina, vuole dire che la nostra difesa in questi tre anni ha corret[t]o i[l] pregiudizio del Giappone!
? Tornero` fra poco a Roma.
Saluti cordiali. Yang Fengchi
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 27
[Dear Professor Pound: I want to apologize for my delay in responding to your letter of 22 August. The delay was caused by the long time it took your letter (to arrive). I am thankful that you remember me. Unfortunately, I don't agree with your ideas.
For me Chiang Kai-shek is a great statesman, the greatest and bravest statesman my country has today, a man who wants my nation to be great and free. Regarding the belief of Chiang vs. Christianity, I can't tell you anything because I don't know. But his will to save China is without doubt great. Because of this he has always had the esteem of the Chinese people, and naturally also of our troops. Morally our troops are disciplined neither by the Bible nor by Confucianism but by the texts of Sun Yat-sen's principles.
It took the United States eight years to win independence. For as long as 160 years it never had any serious threat from foreign forces. But what about China? Don't trust Japanese propaganda because the Japanese have never respected the honor of China. If it's true, as you said, that Japan now wants to make an honorable peace with China, then this means that our defense in the past three years has remedied Japan's prejudice! I will return shortly to Rome. Regards,
Yang Fengchi]
Sun Yat-sen: (1866-1925), father of modern China. The three great principles set forth by him are nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood.
12 EP to Yang (TLS-2; LL)
Via Marsala 12. 5 Rapallo 2 Nov [1940]
Caro Dott Yang
Potete dire al Sig Segretario Generale Tcheou [Tchu] che io ho scritto due
articoli (uno in inglese, uno in Italiano) ma non so quando (o si) saranno pubblicati.
E` molto diYcile capire perche` Wang Chin Wei non ha ragione; e perche Chiang Kai Chek non e` sbagliato in suoi rapporti (magari se ci [ce] ne sono pochi e piccoli) colla Wnanza internazionale.
Siamo ignorantissimi. Certo manca una traduzione del volume (? secondo) della vacchia enciclopedia Cinese che tratta dell economia. (Non trovo il titolo in questo momento ma un intiero volume tratta della moneta e dei questioni economici) Poi il libro di Lihaoouen (<come il nome sta> scritto in francese) Toan-pen-tang-king sse-yao potrebbe meritare una traduzione? ? <e il Ta-pao-lo, specialmente per miei studi>. Libri di questo genere non hanno bisogno, mi pare, d'edizioni bilingue, essendo la materia prosaica.
28 yang as pound's opponent and collaborator
In somma i forestieri ch hanno appreso qualche cosa della Cina hanno quasi sempre dovuto INVADERE il paese, poi assorbendo la cultura. Essezione [Eccezione] fatto per alcuni gesuiti ch hanno riportato i libri di Confuzio, e di Menzio; ed il libro delle ceremonie (Li Gi) ed alcuni poesie in Europa.
Ho letto hieri [ieri] che [il] Giappone sta ameliorando i rapporti non sola- mente colla Russia, ma anche col Australia. Invece avrebbe dovuto ameliorare i rapporti colla Cina (totale) ovvero la Cina ed il Giappone avrebbe potuto convenire in trattati coi due paesi?
Il Giappone pubblica molte in inglese. Non so se la Cina pubblica informa- zione per l'estero in qualsiasi lingua europa? Non sarebbe possibile che L'Illu- strissimo Sig Tcheou [Tchu] invita [inviti] Comm De Feo a discutere le possibilita` dei [di] scambi culturali; cioe` in particolare di traduzioni dal Cinese?
Con aggiunte di informazioni odierni?
cordialmente [signed] Ezra Pound
[Dear Dr Yang: You may tell Mr Secretary General Zhu that I've written two articles (one in English and the other in Italian) but I don't know when (or if) they are going to be published.
It's very hard to understand why Wang Jingwei is not right; why Chiang Kai- shek is not wrong in his dealings in international Wnance (but perhaps these dealings are few and unimportant).
We are very ignorant. Of course, there is no translation of the (second? ) volume of the old Chinese encyclopedia dealing with economics. (I can't remember the title right now, but an entire volume has to do with money and economic issues. )
Moreover, the Book of Lihaoouen (as it is written in French), Toan pen tang king sse yao, might be worth translating? and Ta-pao-lo, especially for my studies. It seems to me that works of this kind do not need bilingual editions because they are in prose.
Anyway, foreigners who have learned something from China have almost always had to INVADE it, later absorbing the culture. I make exceptions for those few Jesuits who brought back the books of Confucius and Mencius, the Book of Rites (Li ji), and some poems to Europe.
I read yesterday that Japan is improving its relations with Russia and Austra- lia, although it should also improve its relation with China (all China). Or else China and Japan could have joined together to deal with the two countries?
Japan publishes much in English. I don't know if China publishes any information for foreign countries in any European language. Wouldn't it be possible for the most honorable Mr Zhu to invite Comm. De Feo to discuss the possibility of cultural exchanges, which means especially translations from Chinese, with the addition of updates? Regards, Ezra Pound]
yang as pound's opponent and collaborator 29
Wang Chin Wei: Wang Jingwei (1883-1944), president of the Chinese Nationalist Party (1932-8), defected in 1938. He became puppet ruler of Japanese occupied China in 1940-4.
Toan-pen-tang-king sse-yao . . . Ta-pao-lo: unidentiWed.
De Feo: Luciano De Feo, the director-selector for the First Exposition of Cinematic Art held in
Venice in 1932, was then Director General of the Italian National Institute for Cultural Exchanges (IRCE).
13 Yang to EP (TLS-1; Beinecke)
Roma 9, 11, 40.
Caro Signor Pound
Vi ringrazio sentimente per la vostra lettera. Via mando, per informazioni,
alcuni volumetti per mezzo dei quali spero sia possibile farsi un'idea chiara della politica nazionale giapponese. Per mezzo di essi forse potete convincervi che Wang Ching-wei ha torto e Chiang Kai-shek ha ragione. Per mancanza di spazio e le altre ragioni, e` inutile intavolare per lettera una discussione come quasta [questa]. Insomma ogni paese ha diritto di essere libero e di poter vivere la sua vita (specialmente politicalmente).
Non capisco che libro sarebbe ''Ta Pen Tang King SSe Yao'' e ''Ta Pao Lo'': potete scrivermi i caratteri in cinese? Vido [Vedo] spe[s]so il sig. Tchou [Tchu]; egli mi ha detto che conosce molto bene il Comm. De Feo ed anche ha parlato, molto tempo fa, con lui riguarda agli scambi culturali fra i due paesi; ma per ora e` quasi impossibile attuare qualunque idea in quel senso. Non e` sempre vero, come avete detto, che i forestieri hanno dovuto invadere la cina per apprendere qualchecosa dal paese: per essempio la Korea e l'Indo-cina hanno assorbito la cultura cinese senza invaderla ed i Mongoli hanno una volta conquistato la Cina e non hanno appreso niente la [della] sua cultura. Il Giappone, come culturalmente, ha gia` imparato molto dalla Cina nei secoli passati, ma ades[s]o esso invade la Cina non e` per apprendere qualchecosa culturale ma su le altre ragioni imperialistici i quali non possono essere compromes [s]i da un cinese che ama la propria indipendenza del sua paese.
Cordialmente [signed] Yang Fengchi
[Dear Mr Pound: Thank you for your letter. For your reference I'm sending some pamphlets, which I hope will give you a clear idea about the nationalist politics of Japan. These may help to convince you that Wang is wrong and Chiang is right. Because of limited space and other reasons it's useless to start discussion like this in a letter.
