I can express an opinion to you as a friend, but believe nominations can come only from organized
official
bodies belonging to the writer's own country or from authors who have already received the Nobel Award.
Ezra-Pound-Japan-Letters-essays
You improve it, and it is set down to ignorance.
Stock must know it is intentional.
(These are very fussy comments on matters of small importance, but I don't want to lose time with Stock. ) Again parr, or par. ?
Don't imagine that I ever knew how to spell in any language, and have certainly forgotten a good deal that 1 knew temporarily. I hear an Athen- ian taxi driver was lamenting that he couldn't help me to correct the greek in Cantos/ which is, at least partly, due to american printer omit- ting corrections after they had been properly set up. Besides whatever state the typescript is in, Melbourne will probably add a few errors. Does thehelenwantacapital(Helen)? peri,forperiwinkle? in1. 7? ? Ajoke that I shd/ be asking for footnotes. Darley?
At the boar's (is not necessary) ravages. so there you are
{"Stetson" is used with emphasis, no implication that reader already knows of him. )
(These two might be typing slips? )
Other Xmas items at this end. Amaral's Cantares Pisanos at last issued by Univ. of Mexico. Eva's Pisaner Gesdnge and popular edtn. pocket book Dichtung und Prosa. No. 2. Edge with the Zielinski. And at last the TRAXINIAI in London with some addenda. I will send Academia Bulle- tins slow post. Thanks for the Fenollosa fotos. And give my regards to the Minoru. It was his grandfather's foto on my mantelpiece that lowered the bamboo curtain with Ito and Kume in London, 40 years ago. And the present Minoru in Kagekiyo mask is on cover of my daughter's Italian translation of the Fenollosa-E. P. impression of that play. (They met at Venice festival. ) The TRAXINIAI translation was due to rereading the Noh translations for collected translations, and to make Verkehr with Lorenzatos greek edition of Cathay . . . a current toward inter- communications.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 137
I will ask Vanni Scheiwiller to send you some of his editions, or, as he runs on enthusiasm, perhaps the Keio Univ. will want some for their li- brary. The stone tablet text of Pivot is neater in the Italian bilingual than in the larger New Directions edtn/ and the outrage of delays and sabotage in connection with Harvard press, which should have done the Odes with seal character and sound-graph, one more infamy on the neck of this unfortunate continent.
At any rate, do send me more news as the incarcerated live on their post-bag.
135: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-1 [n. p. l 8 April 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
I have accused myself for not writing to you. Many thanks for your cordial letter and Academia Bulletins. I felt as if I actually met you and listened to your witty causerie. I have just read through Mr. Denis Goacher's "Pictures of E. P. " in the Nimbus, and I have been keenly feeling that the world is incompatible with the wisdom of a genuine poet. Yet I believe an artist should be allowed his own vision.
MyheartwasfilledwithintensesorrowwhenI heardthenewsof Wyndham Lewis's death. I can well understand your feelings, though omnes eodem cogimur.
Junzaburo Nishiwaki won the Yomiuri prize for poetry the other day for his The Third Myth, which contains Janus poem in Japanese version. He expresses his gratitude and delight for your helpful and inspiring criticism. I hear George Darley (1795-1846), an Irish poet, was a stutterer. He says he will send you some other poems before long.
The London edition of Traxiniai came to my hand this morning. I read your version in the Hudson Review a few years ago. I will press Kitasono to translate it into Japanese as soon as possible. (I hear he has been depressed by a love affair. ) In recent years No plays written by the modern authors are on at the various theatres in Tokyo, and some of them are successful.
I think Italy must be a very pleasant country to live in. My brother-in- law is the Japanese Ambassador at Rome. I hope I shall be able to travel in
cordiali saJuti to both of you. Ezra Pound
? 138 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Italy--where every footstep is fraught with memories--during his tenure of office.
There is a story that when, after the last war, Norman Douglas applied to the Italian Government for permission to return to Capri, he was told that no foreigner was allowed to settle in Italy. "I do not wish to live in Italy," he replied, "I wish to die there. " His request was granted.
May I ask you some questions?
1. Or through dawn-mist
The grey and rose
Of the juridical
Flamingoes: "Mauberley" IV
What is the meaning of the juridical in this context?
2. Who is Headlam? ("Mauberley")
John Espey says that Headlam is the Rev. Stewart Headlam, though
Friar and Brinnin say that he is the R. Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Please forgive me for the trouble I am causing you.
In exchange for your kindness, I am sending you Japanese No Plays,
Confucian Analects by Dr. Legge, and T'ao Yiian-ming in Chinese char- acters, which I am sure you will like.
136: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 St. Elizabeths. 11 April 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I wonder if what Ito would have called your "brother in row" is the Ambassador my daughter met when the Minoru took the
Noh to Venice?
I hope Junzaburo will continue to "derocher," but wish you would both get in touch with Noel Stock, now. (Occidental vulgarity, we live in eternity, but magazines do not, and the better a periodical the more pre- carious its existence, and the greater the need to get the best available matter printed before the editor goes bust. )
I dont think Kit Kat knows enough english to translate TRAX-
INIAI.
Sincerely Yours, Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 139
BUT am convinced the Noh technique is only way of doing it properly, in whatever language.
No poet shd/ be depressed by a love affair/ if accepted he can enjoy it/ if given the "heave-ho" it shd/ improve his prosody and versification. And Kit Kat must be several years younger than I am.
When you get to Italy you must spend a few days with my descendents at Schloss Brunnenburg--Tirolo, Merano.
"juridical"/ gravity of the bird, the general legal attitude/ etc.
I shd/ say the lizard is professorial/ at least one memorable occasion of main body of said animal, utterly impassive, returning to in- spect the excited movements of its own tail knocked off by a cat. Of course situation much more serious for tail (irrevocable), whereas lizard cd/ replace same with patience.
Headlam, Stuart (or Stewart), member of rhymers club, I dont think he attained prebebde.
Do you know Dr. Kojiro Yoshikawa? He has sent his East-flow West-flow to Sheri, my copy hasn't come.
If you can persuade yr/ publisher to extend his operation by sending re- view copies of your "Mauberley" to h. de campos, r. dr. franco da rocha 232, s. paulo, Brasil
AND to Stock, and to Eva Hesse O'Donnell, Franzjosef str/ 7. vi, Miinchen 13, Germany
I think they wd/ spread the glad tidings.
Also to Garcia Terres, Universidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. The Ministry of Education in Brazil, and Mex. University are publishing the Spanish Pisans, and Portuguese 17 Cantos.
The venerable Chiang encourages me with the jail sentence of King Wen and Confucio and other respectable chinamen.
In just what sense do you use word "stutterer" re/ Darley? 1 take it [it] is J. N. who is sending poems. Quicker to send 'em to Stock, and he will print 'em and send on more copies.
Jo Bard lecturing in the Canary Isles, rhymes with yr/ use of the very Possum in the preterite.
And I shall be grateful for the To Emmei.
cordiali saJuti Ez P
? 140
SECTIONIII: 1956-68
137: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-2 Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 24 June 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
I've received a parcel containing Italian Kagekiyo, Con/ucio, Cantos, Iconogra/ia and Lavoro ed Usura, etc. the other day. Many many thanks for your kindness and all those wonderful books Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz sent me. In particular Iconogra/ia and Confucio are so beautiful that they fairly take my breath away. In exchange for her kindness I sent her my "Mauber- ley" and Japanese Masks, which I'm sure she will like. And also I sent you Japanese Masks and Taiga. Ikeno Taiga (1723-76) is one of the Southern School Artists. He had a true enthusiasm for Chinese culture, and was earnest in Chinalizing the Japanese landscape, as the Augustan poets in England used to Latinizing the English world.
J. N. 's Janus poem will be published in Edge no. 5. He's deeply grateful to you. I sent my "Mauberley" to Mr. Stock, h. de campos, Eva Hesse O'Donnell, and Garcia Terres last month.
Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Fenollosa's death, a biog- raphy was published in Tokyo. I'm writing now an essay on Mr. Pound and Fenollosa. Donald Davie, a young critic and Fellow of Trinity College, paid a great homage to The Chinese Written Character in his Articulate Energy. How and when did you happen to be acting as literary executor of Fenollo- sa? (Fenollosa's name first appeared in your letter. To William C. Williams, 19 Dec, 1913. ) Please tell me the circumstances.
One of my students is writing a doctor thesis on Yeats's plays. She had been in England for three years, and brought back some photographs of Yeats's mss. May I ask you some questions?
1. DoyouknowthedatewhenYeatsstartedAttheHawk'sWell?
2. Did Yeats actually write the first draft at Coole Park, being quite independent from your assistance?
3. TowhatextentdidyouhelpYeatsintheprogressofwritingAtthe Hawk's Well, or other plays, if any?
4. CanyougiveusastatementinwhichyoutestifyYeats'szealforthe Far Eastern art, etc? (including the Noh, of course. )
May I publish your letters in the Japanese magazine, omitting too personal passages (e. g. Kit Kat's knowledge in English) and adding some foot-notes?
Etiam atque-etiam vaJe, P. S. Minoru started for Paris several days ago. Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 141
138: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. 21 August 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
No literary prize or jury award can alter the weight of a consonant or change the length of a vowel, but on the practical side, if
you have some sort of Japanese Academy or authoritative body, it could do no harm to bring Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work to the attention of the Swedish Academy; I do not recall their having yet honoured Nippon.
139: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-l [n. p. ] 3 September 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
Thank you for your nice letter of the 21st; I enjoyed every word. We can conscientiously recommend Mr. J. N. most heartily. We are now looking into the proper procedure, and I believe we must get a letter of recom- mendation from you. He'll write you a letter asking a favour. I'll send you some materials one of these days.
The opening ceremonies of the xxix International PEN Congress was held in Tokyo yesterday. The congress will spend four days in Tokyo before moving to Kyoto for the final two days and the closing session. Its highlight will be a symposium on the theme of the current meeting: "The Reciprocal Influence of Eastern and Western Literature on Writers of the Present Day and of the Future, both in Relation to aesthetic Values and to Ways of Life. "
We can find the following names in the list of Congress members: Mr. Karl Shapiro, Mrs. John G. Fletcher, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, Elmer Rice, Alberto Moravia, Stephen Spender etc.
We shall enjoy viewing of Noh play tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely yours. Ryozo Iwasaki
ever yours E Pound
? 142 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
140: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 [n. p. ] 6 September 1957
Dear Ryozo
It would be most improper for me as a private citizen to recommend J. N. formally.
I can express an opinion to you as a friend, but believe nominations can come only from organized official bodies belonging to the writer's own country or from authors who have already received the Nobel Award.
Also, not being able to read Japanese, I have only a hunch and one of his poems in English to go on.
I should be delighted if I am right in my guess, and if he gets the Award.
AS to the pollution of the orient by introduction of tainted minds from the Occident and Mesopotamia
God help you. There is a popular english ditty "Heaven will pRotecT the working girl. "
Let us pray that some of the real criteria/ wasn't it Mat Arnold: "The best that has been known and thought. "
For gods sake get hold of the real occidental classics and consult people who are faithful to them.
AND make a start by attacking the great lie that the jews gave the world religion.
The whole of India and China and Greece ought to oppose this. The his- tory of mediaeval europe is that of a conflict between maniacs and sav- ages, with a dash of malevolence, greed of conquest, pollution.
Theremaybenorighteouswarsinthe"SpringandAutumn"butI have never heard of either Bhudists or Taoists using religion as a pretext for slaughter. Nor is it Confucian.
I wonder if Elmer Rice is an innocuous centenarian or at least a contem- porary whom I had thought extinct {that must have been Cole Rice).
I hope NO influence brought by that set of Pens will get into Tokyo. But give my cordial greetings to Rice, if it is the old relique, and to Fletch- er's widow, neither of whom will be carrying "influence. "
I dare say this will arrive after the conflict, but you can store it for next time.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 143
Hagoromo is a sacrament. And a glory. Tami Kume danced the tennin part before the Emperor at the age of six. And remembered it in London, where he showed us the movements in 1917 or about then. Later a Toku- gawa and some daimyo gave bits of Noh and Kiogen privately in his stu- dio in Paris. These are things to remember.
ever yours Ezra Pound
141: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-l Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 9 September 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
At your kind suggestion we have officially made an application to the Swedish Academy for Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki as a Nobel prize candidate, and we should be grateful if you could send us a word of recommendation for his work, which we might use as an important reference to be filed in among the necessary documents.
142: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. , 11 October 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I am very glad to hear of your committee's decision. It would be presumptuous of me to express an opinion on the
qualities of a man's writing in a language which I am, unfortunately, un- able to read, or to have views as to his status among other writers whose work is whoJJy unknown to me.
From what I have seen [of] Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work in English there is no possible doubt of his sensibility and the range and quality of his culture.
I shouldbedelightedtohavemyguessconfirmedbythose competent, as seems to be indicated by your letter. And I should partici- pate in the pleasure of any honour that may be done him.
cordially yours Ezra Pound
Yours sincerely Ryozo Iwasaki
? 144 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
143: Shiro Tsunoda to Ezra Pound
TLS-1 1156 Karasuyama-cho, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. 13 January 1958
Dear Mr. Pound:
Excuse me for my rudeness in writing you a letter without anyone who introduces me to you. While I was studying modern poetry in the Univer- sity of Miami, Florida, as a Fulbright Exchange teacher under the sponsor- ship of U. S. Office of Education, I was much interested in and deeply appreciated your poetry and study of Noh. Now teaching English and American literature in a senior high school, I am going to publish my thesis on "The Influence of Chinese Poetry and Japanese Tanka and Noh on Mr. Pound's Poetry. " But I have come to several points on which 1 would like to ask you questions. You went to London in 1909 but did you study Noh from Mr. Fenollosa's manuscripts before that? You put the title Personae to the collection of your poems published in London in 1909. How did you think of the title Personae (etymologically Per = through, Sona = sound) mean- ing the mask or the role as was shown in Greek play. Did you not think of highly artistic mask of Noh plays, though you perhaps got a hint from Browning's Dramatis Personae? While you were absorbed by painting and sculpture, were you interested in any of Japanese or Chinese paintings?
As for your poem, "The Tree," whose first five lines run as follows: I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen be/ore;
Of Daphne and the JaureJ bow
And that god-/easting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
Did not you think of an old man and woman symbolized by pine-trees in Takasago, one of the best and most illuminating Noh plays, when you wrote "that god-feasting couple old"?
And as for "The Encounter," what is meant by the last two lines which run:
Her fingers were like the tissue
Of a Japanese paper napkin.
If you kindly answer these questions, it will be a great help to a study of
the East and West flow of literature and I am much obliged to you.
If you are still interested in Noh plays, I will gladly send you the photos of the performances of Nohs recently presented by such schools as Umewa- ka, Kanze, Hohsho, Kongo, etc. Some of the Americans in Tokyo such as Dr.
Ulmann, Fulbright professor, are very eager to study Noh.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 145
I will translate into English any of the plays which you want and send it to you.
Hoping that I receive your answer, I remain,
144: Ezra Pound to Shiro Tsunoda
TLS-1 (fragment) St. Ehzabeths Hospital. 18 January 1958
Sincerely yours, Shiro Tsunoda
. . . I can't switch back to work on Noh this moment, but am having dif- ficulty in making some people understand that only the Minoru or some otherNohcompanywithwhichI amunacquainted,butnotBroadway, would be able to do Traxiniai as I want it done. . . .
145: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 18 November 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I have at last got back to (my) archives
and yesterday opened Fenollosa's notes on Prof. Mori's lectures on the History of Chinese Poetry.
The damned sinologues who are trying to suppress all classical intelligence will be out with the trench tools to sabotage any revival of interest.
This is the first time I have been able to look at the Fenollosa heritage since learning a bit about the ideograms.
I am still fairly defenceless re/ equivalence of Jap and Chinese
names.
The work seems to be very lively. Would it incommode you to go thru my text a few pages at a time, as 1 dig it out from the pencil scribble, and try to get it into clear sentences?
Best wishes to Junzaburo yours cordially Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
? 146 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
146: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 6 December 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
The grandson of Leo Frobenius, whom I consider was the best mind in Europe for about 40 years, wants to get to Japan,
aim to continue Fenollosa's work.
It would give chance for correlation of the better thought of Europe with the Japanese heritage.
I don't know what chance of exchange could be developed with the Forschungs Institut founded by his grandfather in Frankfurt,
but in any case I hope he will call on you when (and/or if) he gets to Japan.
My daughter works on Junzaburo's poems, but with me on the premises and increased family, need to attend to house and farm, she cannot give all her time to literary studies. I hope our distinguished confrere will have patience, and also understand the harassments of publishers (Scheiwiller in particular) at the present time.
She has been so intent on my work that she has, for a decade, neglected to mention the importance of that of her husband. If there are any egyp- tologists in Japan, they might be interested in his latest publication.
I have only within the past weeks realized the amount of work he has done, and the importance of what is still unpublished, particular- ly in regard to agriculture and the work of Del Pelo Pardi (re/ plowing etc. )
cordially yrs. Ezra Pound
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 147
147: Ezra Pound to Tomoji Okada
TCS-1 Brunnenburg, Tirolo di Merano. 22 [January or August] 1959
Dear Mr. Okada
To best of my memory, Mrs. Fenollosa was under impression that the Government wished to honour E. F. in manner stated. I shall of course insert your information if book is ever reprinted, though it rather de- tracts from government prestige. Thanking you for your letter. I wonder if the erroneous statement also occurs in the Heineman vol/ on Art? Battling against the cumulative falsification of history ancient and con- temporary, I cannot keep up with all details. After nearly half a century I can't be sure Mary Fenollosa made the statement, but I certainly did not invent it.
(Is it possible that the Government offered to provide transport? )
148: Ezra Pound to Sanehide Kodama
ALS-1 1 rue Grande Chaumiere, Paris. 9 September 1968
Librarian, University of Virginia
Please permit Professor Kodama to consult microfilms of Fenollosa man- uscripts from my collection.
Ezra Pound
Cordially yours, Ezra Pound
? 148
IV POUND'SCONTRIBUTIONSTOJAPANESE PERIODICALS: 1939-40
JJuRiNG THE YEARS 1939 and 1940, Pound enthusiastically wrote articles from Italy to Japanese newspapers on the European cultural, political, and economic events of the time. In 1940, he had become the Italian Correspon- dent of the Japan Times.
The Japan Times was founded in 1897 as the first and oldest English newspaper edited by Japanese in Japan. It wished, as the first editor, Motosada Zumoto, put it, to "endeavor to explain things and smooth the way between foreigners and Japanese. " Its "slogan" has been "All the News Without Fear or Favor. " In 1918 it merged with the Japan Mail and Times (originally started as the Japan Mail in 1870 but changed its name at the merger with the short-lived Japan Times which had been established in 1878). [For further reference see The Japan Times: A History from 1861 to the Present, ed. Shinichi Hasegawa (Tokyo, 1966]. ]
At the time Pound was contributing his articles to the newspaper, its official name was The Japan Times and Mail. Its chief editor, Yasotaro Mori, was a friend of Katue Kitasono.
Pound's articles, however, are his observations and his analyses of Europe in the pre-war and early war years. Some parts are somewhat biased, but scattered throughout are some quite illuminating passages. Collected here (under somewhat regularized revised headings] are:
1 Tri-lingual System Proposed for World Communications (15 May 1939]
2 Death of Yeats: End of Irish Literary Revival (5 June 1939) 3 Study of Noh Continues in West (10 December 1939]
4 An Ezra Pound Letter from Rapallo (8 January 1940]
5 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (4 March 1940]
6 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (18 April 1940]
7 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (13 June 1940)
8 Letter from Rapallo: In War Appear Responsibilities (22 July 1940) 9 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (12 August 1940]
10 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (26 August 1940]
11 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (2 September 1940) 12 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (29 September 1940)
The original title for article 1 was in Pound's typescript "Communica-
? SECTION IV: ESSAYS 149
tions, or Cultural Front. " and for article 2, "Cultural News: State of the Occident in April, anno xvii Era Fascisti (a. d. 1939). " Article 4 bore the sub-heading "Annual Music Week," and article 5, "Ezra Pound Asks Schol- ars Here to Solve Issues. " Articles 6 and 7 appeared in the Japan Times Weekly (published alsoby the/apan Times and Mail), and articles 9, 10, 11
and 12 were reprinted in it, respectively, on 22 August, 5 September, 12 September, and 10 October (1940).
I am indebted to the work done by Shiro Tsunoda on articles 1, 2, and 3 which appeared in "A Study of Some Articles Contributed by Ezra Pound to The Japan Times and Mail," Obirin University Studies of English and American Literature, nos. 23, 24, 25 (1983, 1984, 1985).
? 150
SECTION IV: ESSAYS
Tri-Lingual System Proposed for World Communications
Noted Scholar of Noh Suggests Bilingual or Trilingual Edition of Hundred Best Books on Japanese Literature
1
Note:
known in Japan, is one of the few foreigners who made enthusiastic introduction abroad of Japanese "Noh" plays and stands shoulder to shoulder with Ernest Fenollosa as a scholar devoted to the stud_v of Japanese culture. Mr. Pound has a brilliant literary record and is at present visiting the United States. --Editor, The Japan Times
The writer of the following article, Ezra Loomis Pound, although not well-
I AM READING The Japan Times with pleasure in the hope of getting some European or American news that hasn't been doctored to suit one interest or another. The difficulty in writing to a new public is to know what they have already heard. One doesn't want to bore the reader by telling him what his aunt Jemima has told him or what he has read in the week before last's picture supplement.
Perhaps I had better begin with what has not yet happened. The Italian papers are full of news of the cultural pact with Japan. I have three pro- posals for the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. First: I respectfully ask considera- tion for a bilingual or trilingual edition of the hundred best books of Japanese and ideogramic literature.
The Leica grainless film and microphotographic processes now make such an edition commercial. It can be produced at the same price as the Loeb library of Greek and Latin texts (which has an English translation on the opposite page). With microphotography there is no reason for not using ideogramic pages taken direct from works of master calligraphers. We in the West now have only a few such pages, notably a few from ideograms written for Ernest Fenollosa by one of the Court masters.
Wanted: Noh Film
Secondly: The whole of the Noh could be filmed, or at any rate the best Noh music could be registered on sound-track. Your film Mitsuko filled me with nostalgia. It is 15 years since Tami Koume's friends sang me fragments of Noh in Paris but the instant I heard that all-too-brief reproduction here in Rapallo (in a simple village cinema) I knew whence it came. You have there a treasure like nothing we have in the Occident. We have our masterwork: Mozart, Purcell, Janequin, Dowland, but it is a different masterwork and one is not a substitute for the other.
? SECTION IV: ESSAYS 151
Thirdly: I propose a tri-lingual system for world communications. None of the schemes for esperanto or other universal languages is at all satisfactory. Ogden's proposals for basic English could be developed. He has not the necessary tact or humanity to apply them. The greatest practi- cal, that is possible, simplification would be a triple system: Ideogram, with the Japanese sound (syllabic) comment, Italian and English.
Culture in retrospect needs more languages, and no one wants to constrict it. Greek, Latin and as much else as you like: all very enjoyable.
Current culture could conceivably receive great aid from this triple basis. I am not proposing this with any intention of slighting French and German. The present political alliance would suggest German, Italian and Japanese. I sacrifice one party on either side of the immediate division of forces. I do this on strictly practical and linguistic grounds.
French contains a great treasure but, as language, it is tricky. The foreigner cannot learn it. Its sounds are difficult and its letters are not uniform in connotation. You say: neither are the English. True! but English has attained a syntactical plainness that is nowhere exceeded save in ideogram.
There is also the question of actual present diffusion.
A great many Germans speak English. English is common to the U. S. A. and the British Empire. It is already a common tongue for dozens of Indians who speak different languages in India. Ideogram as a written communica- tion touches all Japan and China. Italian is the simplest of the Latin tongues. Its spelling is the clearest. (Both Spanish and French are full of tricks of
speech that are not clearly printed on the page. )
Language Simple
None of the proposed artificial languages can be more quickly learned by other Latin groups. A Spaniard understands Italian almost at once. Any one who has studied Latin can learn Italian in a few weeks. And whatever may be said of the fancy Italian styles that have pullulated since the sixteenth century, Duce Mussolini signified among other things a great drive for direct utterance, for clear and simple speaking.
I can argue my reasons for picking these three media. I could fill most of today's paper doing it, but I think the reader will save his own time by thinking about them, and weighing up the gains against the sacrifices. The quantity of cultural heritage should be set against the sacrifices. Latin contains the matter of a great deal of Greek. I mean it has been translated intoLatin. TherearegreatclaimsforGerman. I don'tthinkRussianhas much claim. The Latin treasure is fairly accessible to anyone who knows
? 152 SECTION IV: ESSAYS
Italian. Italy is a rising nation. South Americans speak a good deal of Italian as well as Spanish.
I will answer serious objections if anyone has the same set after a week's reflection that they have on first reading this note.
2 Death of Yeats: End of Irish Literary Revival
The death of Leo Frobenius last Summer is the severest shock to European cultural studies that we have had in a decade. Returning members of the Forschungsinstitut Australian expedition passed through Rapallo a few weeks ago with news of their discoveries. Mr. Fox had even found a drawing rather like the magnificent "Runner. "
The death of William Butler Yeats closes the great era of the Irish literary revival. That death will doubtless have been duly recorded in Japan. Someone in Tokyo may also know of Yeats' Japanese interlude or flirtation. He, at one time, thought he would be called to a Japanese pro- fessorship and did, I think, receive some sort of invitation. You have a "link" with Dublin in those plays of Yeats which were directly stimulated by Fenollosa's reports and translations of Noh. Having worked with Yeats during the three or four years of his intensest interest in the Noh, I know how much it meant to him.
Form Searched
"The form I have been searching for all my life" was one of his comments.
(These are very fussy comments on matters of small importance, but I don't want to lose time with Stock. ) Again parr, or par. ?
Don't imagine that I ever knew how to spell in any language, and have certainly forgotten a good deal that 1 knew temporarily. I hear an Athen- ian taxi driver was lamenting that he couldn't help me to correct the greek in Cantos/ which is, at least partly, due to american printer omit- ting corrections after they had been properly set up. Besides whatever state the typescript is in, Melbourne will probably add a few errors. Does thehelenwantacapital(Helen)? peri,forperiwinkle? in1. 7? ? Ajoke that I shd/ be asking for footnotes. Darley?
At the boar's (is not necessary) ravages. so there you are
{"Stetson" is used with emphasis, no implication that reader already knows of him. )
(These two might be typing slips? )
Other Xmas items at this end. Amaral's Cantares Pisanos at last issued by Univ. of Mexico. Eva's Pisaner Gesdnge and popular edtn. pocket book Dichtung und Prosa. No. 2. Edge with the Zielinski. And at last the TRAXINIAI in London with some addenda. I will send Academia Bulle- tins slow post. Thanks for the Fenollosa fotos. And give my regards to the Minoru. It was his grandfather's foto on my mantelpiece that lowered the bamboo curtain with Ito and Kume in London, 40 years ago. And the present Minoru in Kagekiyo mask is on cover of my daughter's Italian translation of the Fenollosa-E. P. impression of that play. (They met at Venice festival. ) The TRAXINIAI translation was due to rereading the Noh translations for collected translations, and to make Verkehr with Lorenzatos greek edition of Cathay . . . a current toward inter- communications.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 137
I will ask Vanni Scheiwiller to send you some of his editions, or, as he runs on enthusiasm, perhaps the Keio Univ. will want some for their li- brary. The stone tablet text of Pivot is neater in the Italian bilingual than in the larger New Directions edtn/ and the outrage of delays and sabotage in connection with Harvard press, which should have done the Odes with seal character and sound-graph, one more infamy on the neck of this unfortunate continent.
At any rate, do send me more news as the incarcerated live on their post-bag.
135: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-1 [n. p. l 8 April 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
I have accused myself for not writing to you. Many thanks for your cordial letter and Academia Bulletins. I felt as if I actually met you and listened to your witty causerie. I have just read through Mr. Denis Goacher's "Pictures of E. P. " in the Nimbus, and I have been keenly feeling that the world is incompatible with the wisdom of a genuine poet. Yet I believe an artist should be allowed his own vision.
MyheartwasfilledwithintensesorrowwhenI heardthenewsof Wyndham Lewis's death. I can well understand your feelings, though omnes eodem cogimur.
Junzaburo Nishiwaki won the Yomiuri prize for poetry the other day for his The Third Myth, which contains Janus poem in Japanese version. He expresses his gratitude and delight for your helpful and inspiring criticism. I hear George Darley (1795-1846), an Irish poet, was a stutterer. He says he will send you some other poems before long.
The London edition of Traxiniai came to my hand this morning. I read your version in the Hudson Review a few years ago. I will press Kitasono to translate it into Japanese as soon as possible. (I hear he has been depressed by a love affair. ) In recent years No plays written by the modern authors are on at the various theatres in Tokyo, and some of them are successful.
I think Italy must be a very pleasant country to live in. My brother-in- law is the Japanese Ambassador at Rome. I hope I shall be able to travel in
cordiali saJuti to both of you. Ezra Pound
? 138 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Italy--where every footstep is fraught with memories--during his tenure of office.
There is a story that when, after the last war, Norman Douglas applied to the Italian Government for permission to return to Capri, he was told that no foreigner was allowed to settle in Italy. "I do not wish to live in Italy," he replied, "I wish to die there. " His request was granted.
May I ask you some questions?
1. Or through dawn-mist
The grey and rose
Of the juridical
Flamingoes: "Mauberley" IV
What is the meaning of the juridical in this context?
2. Who is Headlam? ("Mauberley")
John Espey says that Headlam is the Rev. Stewart Headlam, though
Friar and Brinnin say that he is the R. Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Please forgive me for the trouble I am causing you.
In exchange for your kindness, I am sending you Japanese No Plays,
Confucian Analects by Dr. Legge, and T'ao Yiian-ming in Chinese char- acters, which I am sure you will like.
136: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 St. Elizabeths. 11 April 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I wonder if what Ito would have called your "brother in row" is the Ambassador my daughter met when the Minoru took the
Noh to Venice?
I hope Junzaburo will continue to "derocher," but wish you would both get in touch with Noel Stock, now. (Occidental vulgarity, we live in eternity, but magazines do not, and the better a periodical the more pre- carious its existence, and the greater the need to get the best available matter printed before the editor goes bust. )
I dont think Kit Kat knows enough english to translate TRAX-
INIAI.
Sincerely Yours, Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 139
BUT am convinced the Noh technique is only way of doing it properly, in whatever language.
No poet shd/ be depressed by a love affair/ if accepted he can enjoy it/ if given the "heave-ho" it shd/ improve his prosody and versification. And Kit Kat must be several years younger than I am.
When you get to Italy you must spend a few days with my descendents at Schloss Brunnenburg--Tirolo, Merano.
"juridical"/ gravity of the bird, the general legal attitude/ etc.
I shd/ say the lizard is professorial/ at least one memorable occasion of main body of said animal, utterly impassive, returning to in- spect the excited movements of its own tail knocked off by a cat. Of course situation much more serious for tail (irrevocable), whereas lizard cd/ replace same with patience.
Headlam, Stuart (or Stewart), member of rhymers club, I dont think he attained prebebde.
Do you know Dr. Kojiro Yoshikawa? He has sent his East-flow West-flow to Sheri, my copy hasn't come.
If you can persuade yr/ publisher to extend his operation by sending re- view copies of your "Mauberley" to h. de campos, r. dr. franco da rocha 232, s. paulo, Brasil
AND to Stock, and to Eva Hesse O'Donnell, Franzjosef str/ 7. vi, Miinchen 13, Germany
I think they wd/ spread the glad tidings.
Also to Garcia Terres, Universidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. The Ministry of Education in Brazil, and Mex. University are publishing the Spanish Pisans, and Portuguese 17 Cantos.
The venerable Chiang encourages me with the jail sentence of King Wen and Confucio and other respectable chinamen.
In just what sense do you use word "stutterer" re/ Darley? 1 take it [it] is J. N. who is sending poems. Quicker to send 'em to Stock, and he will print 'em and send on more copies.
Jo Bard lecturing in the Canary Isles, rhymes with yr/ use of the very Possum in the preterite.
And I shall be grateful for the To Emmei.
cordiali saJuti Ez P
? 140
SECTIONIII: 1956-68
137: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-2 Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 24 June 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
I've received a parcel containing Italian Kagekiyo, Con/ucio, Cantos, Iconogra/ia and Lavoro ed Usura, etc. the other day. Many many thanks for your kindness and all those wonderful books Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz sent me. In particular Iconogra/ia and Confucio are so beautiful that they fairly take my breath away. In exchange for her kindness I sent her my "Mauber- ley" and Japanese Masks, which I'm sure she will like. And also I sent you Japanese Masks and Taiga. Ikeno Taiga (1723-76) is one of the Southern School Artists. He had a true enthusiasm for Chinese culture, and was earnest in Chinalizing the Japanese landscape, as the Augustan poets in England used to Latinizing the English world.
J. N. 's Janus poem will be published in Edge no. 5. He's deeply grateful to you. I sent my "Mauberley" to Mr. Stock, h. de campos, Eva Hesse O'Donnell, and Garcia Terres last month.
Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Fenollosa's death, a biog- raphy was published in Tokyo. I'm writing now an essay on Mr. Pound and Fenollosa. Donald Davie, a young critic and Fellow of Trinity College, paid a great homage to The Chinese Written Character in his Articulate Energy. How and when did you happen to be acting as literary executor of Fenollo- sa? (Fenollosa's name first appeared in your letter. To William C. Williams, 19 Dec, 1913. ) Please tell me the circumstances.
One of my students is writing a doctor thesis on Yeats's plays. She had been in England for three years, and brought back some photographs of Yeats's mss. May I ask you some questions?
1. DoyouknowthedatewhenYeatsstartedAttheHawk'sWell?
2. Did Yeats actually write the first draft at Coole Park, being quite independent from your assistance?
3. TowhatextentdidyouhelpYeatsintheprogressofwritingAtthe Hawk's Well, or other plays, if any?
4. CanyougiveusastatementinwhichyoutestifyYeats'szealforthe Far Eastern art, etc? (including the Noh, of course. )
May I publish your letters in the Japanese magazine, omitting too personal passages (e. g. Kit Kat's knowledge in English) and adding some foot-notes?
Etiam atque-etiam vaJe, P. S. Minoru started for Paris several days ago. Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 141
138: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. 21 August 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
No literary prize or jury award can alter the weight of a consonant or change the length of a vowel, but on the practical side, if
you have some sort of Japanese Academy or authoritative body, it could do no harm to bring Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work to the attention of the Swedish Academy; I do not recall their having yet honoured Nippon.
139: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-l [n. p. ] 3 September 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
Thank you for your nice letter of the 21st; I enjoyed every word. We can conscientiously recommend Mr. J. N. most heartily. We are now looking into the proper procedure, and I believe we must get a letter of recom- mendation from you. He'll write you a letter asking a favour. I'll send you some materials one of these days.
The opening ceremonies of the xxix International PEN Congress was held in Tokyo yesterday. The congress will spend four days in Tokyo before moving to Kyoto for the final two days and the closing session. Its highlight will be a symposium on the theme of the current meeting: "The Reciprocal Influence of Eastern and Western Literature on Writers of the Present Day and of the Future, both in Relation to aesthetic Values and to Ways of Life. "
We can find the following names in the list of Congress members: Mr. Karl Shapiro, Mrs. John G. Fletcher, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, Elmer Rice, Alberto Moravia, Stephen Spender etc.
We shall enjoy viewing of Noh play tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely yours. Ryozo Iwasaki
ever yours E Pound
? 142 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
140: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 [n. p. ] 6 September 1957
Dear Ryozo
It would be most improper for me as a private citizen to recommend J. N. formally.
I can express an opinion to you as a friend, but believe nominations can come only from organized official bodies belonging to the writer's own country or from authors who have already received the Nobel Award.
Also, not being able to read Japanese, I have only a hunch and one of his poems in English to go on.
I should be delighted if I am right in my guess, and if he gets the Award.
AS to the pollution of the orient by introduction of tainted minds from the Occident and Mesopotamia
God help you. There is a popular english ditty "Heaven will pRotecT the working girl. "
Let us pray that some of the real criteria/ wasn't it Mat Arnold: "The best that has been known and thought. "
For gods sake get hold of the real occidental classics and consult people who are faithful to them.
AND make a start by attacking the great lie that the jews gave the world religion.
The whole of India and China and Greece ought to oppose this. The his- tory of mediaeval europe is that of a conflict between maniacs and sav- ages, with a dash of malevolence, greed of conquest, pollution.
Theremaybenorighteouswarsinthe"SpringandAutumn"butI have never heard of either Bhudists or Taoists using religion as a pretext for slaughter. Nor is it Confucian.
I wonder if Elmer Rice is an innocuous centenarian or at least a contem- porary whom I had thought extinct {that must have been Cole Rice).
I hope NO influence brought by that set of Pens will get into Tokyo. But give my cordial greetings to Rice, if it is the old relique, and to Fletch- er's widow, neither of whom will be carrying "influence. "
I dare say this will arrive after the conflict, but you can store it for next time.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 143
Hagoromo is a sacrament. And a glory. Tami Kume danced the tennin part before the Emperor at the age of six. And remembered it in London, where he showed us the movements in 1917 or about then. Later a Toku- gawa and some daimyo gave bits of Noh and Kiogen privately in his stu- dio in Paris. These are things to remember.
ever yours Ezra Pound
141: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-l Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 9 September 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
At your kind suggestion we have officially made an application to the Swedish Academy for Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki as a Nobel prize candidate, and we should be grateful if you could send us a word of recommendation for his work, which we might use as an important reference to be filed in among the necessary documents.
142: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. , 11 October 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I am very glad to hear of your committee's decision. It would be presumptuous of me to express an opinion on the
qualities of a man's writing in a language which I am, unfortunately, un- able to read, or to have views as to his status among other writers whose work is whoJJy unknown to me.
From what I have seen [of] Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work in English there is no possible doubt of his sensibility and the range and quality of his culture.
I shouldbedelightedtohavemyguessconfirmedbythose competent, as seems to be indicated by your letter. And I should partici- pate in the pleasure of any honour that may be done him.
cordially yours Ezra Pound
Yours sincerely Ryozo Iwasaki
? 144 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
143: Shiro Tsunoda to Ezra Pound
TLS-1 1156 Karasuyama-cho, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. 13 January 1958
Dear Mr. Pound:
Excuse me for my rudeness in writing you a letter without anyone who introduces me to you. While I was studying modern poetry in the Univer- sity of Miami, Florida, as a Fulbright Exchange teacher under the sponsor- ship of U. S. Office of Education, I was much interested in and deeply appreciated your poetry and study of Noh. Now teaching English and American literature in a senior high school, I am going to publish my thesis on "The Influence of Chinese Poetry and Japanese Tanka and Noh on Mr. Pound's Poetry. " But I have come to several points on which 1 would like to ask you questions. You went to London in 1909 but did you study Noh from Mr. Fenollosa's manuscripts before that? You put the title Personae to the collection of your poems published in London in 1909. How did you think of the title Personae (etymologically Per = through, Sona = sound) mean- ing the mask or the role as was shown in Greek play. Did you not think of highly artistic mask of Noh plays, though you perhaps got a hint from Browning's Dramatis Personae? While you were absorbed by painting and sculpture, were you interested in any of Japanese or Chinese paintings?
As for your poem, "The Tree," whose first five lines run as follows: I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen be/ore;
Of Daphne and the JaureJ bow
And that god-/easting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
Did not you think of an old man and woman symbolized by pine-trees in Takasago, one of the best and most illuminating Noh plays, when you wrote "that god-feasting couple old"?
And as for "The Encounter," what is meant by the last two lines which run:
Her fingers were like the tissue
Of a Japanese paper napkin.
If you kindly answer these questions, it will be a great help to a study of
the East and West flow of literature and I am much obliged to you.
If you are still interested in Noh plays, I will gladly send you the photos of the performances of Nohs recently presented by such schools as Umewa- ka, Kanze, Hohsho, Kongo, etc. Some of the Americans in Tokyo such as Dr.
Ulmann, Fulbright professor, are very eager to study Noh.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 145
I will translate into English any of the plays which you want and send it to you.
Hoping that I receive your answer, I remain,
144: Ezra Pound to Shiro Tsunoda
TLS-1 (fragment) St. Ehzabeths Hospital. 18 January 1958
Sincerely yours, Shiro Tsunoda
. . . I can't switch back to work on Noh this moment, but am having dif- ficulty in making some people understand that only the Minoru or some otherNohcompanywithwhichI amunacquainted,butnotBroadway, would be able to do Traxiniai as I want it done. . . .
145: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 18 November 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I have at last got back to (my) archives
and yesterday opened Fenollosa's notes on Prof. Mori's lectures on the History of Chinese Poetry.
The damned sinologues who are trying to suppress all classical intelligence will be out with the trench tools to sabotage any revival of interest.
This is the first time I have been able to look at the Fenollosa heritage since learning a bit about the ideograms.
I am still fairly defenceless re/ equivalence of Jap and Chinese
names.
The work seems to be very lively. Would it incommode you to go thru my text a few pages at a time, as 1 dig it out from the pencil scribble, and try to get it into clear sentences?
Best wishes to Junzaburo yours cordially Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
? 146 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
146: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 6 December 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
The grandson of Leo Frobenius, whom I consider was the best mind in Europe for about 40 years, wants to get to Japan,
aim to continue Fenollosa's work.
It would give chance for correlation of the better thought of Europe with the Japanese heritage.
I don't know what chance of exchange could be developed with the Forschungs Institut founded by his grandfather in Frankfurt,
but in any case I hope he will call on you when (and/or if) he gets to Japan.
My daughter works on Junzaburo's poems, but with me on the premises and increased family, need to attend to house and farm, she cannot give all her time to literary studies. I hope our distinguished confrere will have patience, and also understand the harassments of publishers (Scheiwiller in particular) at the present time.
She has been so intent on my work that she has, for a decade, neglected to mention the importance of that of her husband. If there are any egyp- tologists in Japan, they might be interested in his latest publication.
I have only within the past weeks realized the amount of work he has done, and the importance of what is still unpublished, particular- ly in regard to agriculture and the work of Del Pelo Pardi (re/ plowing etc. )
cordially yrs. Ezra Pound
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 147
147: Ezra Pound to Tomoji Okada
TCS-1 Brunnenburg, Tirolo di Merano. 22 [January or August] 1959
Dear Mr. Okada
To best of my memory, Mrs. Fenollosa was under impression that the Government wished to honour E. F. in manner stated. I shall of course insert your information if book is ever reprinted, though it rather de- tracts from government prestige. Thanking you for your letter. I wonder if the erroneous statement also occurs in the Heineman vol/ on Art? Battling against the cumulative falsification of history ancient and con- temporary, I cannot keep up with all details. After nearly half a century I can't be sure Mary Fenollosa made the statement, but I certainly did not invent it.
(Is it possible that the Government offered to provide transport? )
148: Ezra Pound to Sanehide Kodama
ALS-1 1 rue Grande Chaumiere, Paris. 9 September 1968
Librarian, University of Virginia
Please permit Professor Kodama to consult microfilms of Fenollosa man- uscripts from my collection.
Ezra Pound
Cordially yours, Ezra Pound
? 148
IV POUND'SCONTRIBUTIONSTOJAPANESE PERIODICALS: 1939-40
JJuRiNG THE YEARS 1939 and 1940, Pound enthusiastically wrote articles from Italy to Japanese newspapers on the European cultural, political, and economic events of the time. In 1940, he had become the Italian Correspon- dent of the Japan Times.
The Japan Times was founded in 1897 as the first and oldest English newspaper edited by Japanese in Japan. It wished, as the first editor, Motosada Zumoto, put it, to "endeavor to explain things and smooth the way between foreigners and Japanese. " Its "slogan" has been "All the News Without Fear or Favor. " In 1918 it merged with the Japan Mail and Times (originally started as the Japan Mail in 1870 but changed its name at the merger with the short-lived Japan Times which had been established in 1878). [For further reference see The Japan Times: A History from 1861 to the Present, ed. Shinichi Hasegawa (Tokyo, 1966]. ]
At the time Pound was contributing his articles to the newspaper, its official name was The Japan Times and Mail. Its chief editor, Yasotaro Mori, was a friend of Katue Kitasono.
Pound's articles, however, are his observations and his analyses of Europe in the pre-war and early war years. Some parts are somewhat biased, but scattered throughout are some quite illuminating passages. Collected here (under somewhat regularized revised headings] are:
1 Tri-lingual System Proposed for World Communications (15 May 1939]
2 Death of Yeats: End of Irish Literary Revival (5 June 1939) 3 Study of Noh Continues in West (10 December 1939]
4 An Ezra Pound Letter from Rapallo (8 January 1940]
5 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (4 March 1940]
6 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (18 April 1940]
7 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (13 June 1940)
8 Letter from Rapallo: In War Appear Responsibilities (22 July 1940) 9 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (12 August 1940]
10 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (26 August 1940]
11 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (2 September 1940) 12 From Rapallo: An Ezra Pound Letter (29 September 1940)
The original title for article 1 was in Pound's typescript "Communica-
? SECTION IV: ESSAYS 149
tions, or Cultural Front. " and for article 2, "Cultural News: State of the Occident in April, anno xvii Era Fascisti (a. d. 1939). " Article 4 bore the sub-heading "Annual Music Week," and article 5, "Ezra Pound Asks Schol- ars Here to Solve Issues. " Articles 6 and 7 appeared in the Japan Times Weekly (published alsoby the/apan Times and Mail), and articles 9, 10, 11
and 12 were reprinted in it, respectively, on 22 August, 5 September, 12 September, and 10 October (1940).
I am indebted to the work done by Shiro Tsunoda on articles 1, 2, and 3 which appeared in "A Study of Some Articles Contributed by Ezra Pound to The Japan Times and Mail," Obirin University Studies of English and American Literature, nos. 23, 24, 25 (1983, 1984, 1985).
? 150
SECTION IV: ESSAYS
Tri-Lingual System Proposed for World Communications
Noted Scholar of Noh Suggests Bilingual or Trilingual Edition of Hundred Best Books on Japanese Literature
1
Note:
known in Japan, is one of the few foreigners who made enthusiastic introduction abroad of Japanese "Noh" plays and stands shoulder to shoulder with Ernest Fenollosa as a scholar devoted to the stud_v of Japanese culture. Mr. Pound has a brilliant literary record and is at present visiting the United States. --Editor, The Japan Times
The writer of the following article, Ezra Loomis Pound, although not well-
I AM READING The Japan Times with pleasure in the hope of getting some European or American news that hasn't been doctored to suit one interest or another. The difficulty in writing to a new public is to know what they have already heard. One doesn't want to bore the reader by telling him what his aunt Jemima has told him or what he has read in the week before last's picture supplement.
Perhaps I had better begin with what has not yet happened. The Italian papers are full of news of the cultural pact with Japan. I have three pro- posals for the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. First: I respectfully ask considera- tion for a bilingual or trilingual edition of the hundred best books of Japanese and ideogramic literature.
The Leica grainless film and microphotographic processes now make such an edition commercial. It can be produced at the same price as the Loeb library of Greek and Latin texts (which has an English translation on the opposite page). With microphotography there is no reason for not using ideogramic pages taken direct from works of master calligraphers. We in the West now have only a few such pages, notably a few from ideograms written for Ernest Fenollosa by one of the Court masters.
Wanted: Noh Film
Secondly: The whole of the Noh could be filmed, or at any rate the best Noh music could be registered on sound-track. Your film Mitsuko filled me with nostalgia. It is 15 years since Tami Koume's friends sang me fragments of Noh in Paris but the instant I heard that all-too-brief reproduction here in Rapallo (in a simple village cinema) I knew whence it came. You have there a treasure like nothing we have in the Occident. We have our masterwork: Mozart, Purcell, Janequin, Dowland, but it is a different masterwork and one is not a substitute for the other.
? SECTION IV: ESSAYS 151
Thirdly: I propose a tri-lingual system for world communications. None of the schemes for esperanto or other universal languages is at all satisfactory. Ogden's proposals for basic English could be developed. He has not the necessary tact or humanity to apply them. The greatest practi- cal, that is possible, simplification would be a triple system: Ideogram, with the Japanese sound (syllabic) comment, Italian and English.
Culture in retrospect needs more languages, and no one wants to constrict it. Greek, Latin and as much else as you like: all very enjoyable.
Current culture could conceivably receive great aid from this triple basis. I am not proposing this with any intention of slighting French and German. The present political alliance would suggest German, Italian and Japanese. I sacrifice one party on either side of the immediate division of forces. I do this on strictly practical and linguistic grounds.
French contains a great treasure but, as language, it is tricky. The foreigner cannot learn it. Its sounds are difficult and its letters are not uniform in connotation. You say: neither are the English. True! but English has attained a syntactical plainness that is nowhere exceeded save in ideogram.
There is also the question of actual present diffusion.
A great many Germans speak English. English is common to the U. S. A. and the British Empire. It is already a common tongue for dozens of Indians who speak different languages in India. Ideogram as a written communica- tion touches all Japan and China. Italian is the simplest of the Latin tongues. Its spelling is the clearest. (Both Spanish and French are full of tricks of
speech that are not clearly printed on the page. )
Language Simple
None of the proposed artificial languages can be more quickly learned by other Latin groups. A Spaniard understands Italian almost at once. Any one who has studied Latin can learn Italian in a few weeks. And whatever may be said of the fancy Italian styles that have pullulated since the sixteenth century, Duce Mussolini signified among other things a great drive for direct utterance, for clear and simple speaking.
I can argue my reasons for picking these three media. I could fill most of today's paper doing it, but I think the reader will save his own time by thinking about them, and weighing up the gains against the sacrifices. The quantity of cultural heritage should be set against the sacrifices. Latin contains the matter of a great deal of Greek. I mean it has been translated intoLatin. TherearegreatclaimsforGerman. I don'tthinkRussianhas much claim. The Latin treasure is fairly accessible to anyone who knows
? 152 SECTION IV: ESSAYS
Italian. Italy is a rising nation. South Americans speak a good deal of Italian as well as Spanish.
I will answer serious objections if anyone has the same set after a week's reflection that they have on first reading this note.
2 Death of Yeats: End of Irish Literary Revival
The death of Leo Frobenius last Summer is the severest shock to European cultural studies that we have had in a decade. Returning members of the Forschungsinstitut Australian expedition passed through Rapallo a few weeks ago with news of their discoveries. Mr. Fox had even found a drawing rather like the magnificent "Runner. "
The death of William Butler Yeats closes the great era of the Irish literary revival. That death will doubtless have been duly recorded in Japan. Someone in Tokyo may also know of Yeats' Japanese interlude or flirtation. He, at one time, thought he would be called to a Japanese pro- fessorship and did, I think, receive some sort of invitation. You have a "link" with Dublin in those plays of Yeats which were directly stimulated by Fenollosa's reports and translations of Noh. Having worked with Yeats during the three or four years of his intensest interest in the Noh, I know how much it meant to him.
Form Searched
"The form I have been searching for all my life" was one of his comments.
