Please forgive the english. It certainly is true that Pound was a fascist, if not in name then at least in spirit. And it's also true that the Pisan Cantos are dedicated to Mussolini, and there is also a favorable reference to Hitler. Any serious student or admirer of Pound has to take this into account, and one should not attempt to mitigate the consequences of such an enormous transgression. It is also true, for me anyway, that Pound was the major poet of the 20th century. In addition to being an awesome innovator, he insisted that poetry should be a part of the most serious issues of the day. His achievement in writing poetry is second to no one, and he is at the center of most serious discussions about the role and the craft of poetry. I don't think I necessarily agree that Pound's attraction to fascism was mainly due to aesthetic elitism. Personally, I've heard too much crap about elitism for my taste. To say that one value is better than another, or that one person is a better writer than another is not to engage in objectionable behavior. It's only when elitism is yoked with privilege that it becomes dangerous. Pound, unfortunately, was attracted to power -- and I think on a list such as this the obvious implications of such an attraction should not ignored. joe brennan They hang the man and flog the woman That steal the goose from off the common, But let the greater villain loose That steals the common from the goose. ".....at a time when I am speaking to you about the paradox of desire -- in the sense that different goods obscure it -- you can hear outside the awful language of power. There's no point in asking whether they are sincere or hypocritical, whether they want peace of whether they calculate the risks. The dominating impression as such a moment is that something that may pass for a prescribed good; information addresses and captures impotent crowds to whom it is poured forth like a liquor that leaves them dazed as they move toward the slaughter house. One might even ask if one would allow the cataclysm to occur without first giving free reign to this hubbub of voices...."