Ezra Pound and the Transformation of Culture

Abstract

To the contemporary reader, the world re-created by this pioneer of High Modernism bridges references from such different cultural spheres, that Poundian discourse as a whole confuses and defies interpretation. The anthropology of culture has brought forth a concept which reaches beyond the pure meaning of the discourse; by analysing together various references, from the cultural background to the intentionality of the writing and, further on, to the influence which the published texts are responsible for: the concept of culture transformation. To apply this to Poundian criticism, one must neglect neither the biographical nor the political or literary contexts, and develop a special interest in the efforts made for a shift in perspective to take place. Such changes, resulting from a cultural patching and comparing, will be the object of this paper and of subsequent research.