ABC of Reading
by Ezra Pound

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Book Reviews of ABC of Reading

Book Review: A golden book to lead us out of the fog.
Summary: 5 Stars

Ezra Pound's 'ABC of Reading' is an attractive work. In contrast to the pompous and rarified nonsense of a deracinated French intelligentsia which has spread like a deadly virus through academia and is busy wrecking young minds everywhere today, Pound's thought, to borrow the words of Gary Snyder, is like "drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup" while taking in the view through crisp mountain air.

The aim of the book is very ambitious, and has been stated as follows : "It is a primer for the reader who wants to maintain and cultivate an active, critical mind, to become increasingly sensitive to the beauty and inspiration of the world's best literature." In other words, it teaches what good literature is and how to appreciate it.

But just as life's aim - that of continuing in life - is also highly ambitious, and yet can be fulfilled by the simplest of means - pure water and a bit of wholesome food - Pound's ABC gives the reader all she or he really needs to be able to think clearly about literature, and to distinguish between the mere chatter of poseurs and the truth that every real artist brings.

Reader : What is literature?

EP : Literature is language charged with meaning.

Reader : What is great literature?

EP : Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree (p.28).

In contrast to the Lacans and Derridas and Gadamers and their groupies, men who "play endlessly with ideas spun from their own entrails," with "soft bodiless conceptions which are squeezed and molded," and whose passion is the pursuit of various private agendas, Pound's thoughts have been "hacked out by strength and courage from the hard stuff of reality," and the agenda he pursues is open and freely acknowledged (Maccoby). Pound was passionately committed to the twin causes of clear thought and good literature, to civilization-sustaining as opposed to civilization-wrecking values.

What is literature? EP : "Literature is news that STAYS news" (p.29). Should we study its critics? EP : "If you wanted to know something about an automobile, would you go to a man who had made one and driven it, or to a man who had merely heard about it?" (p.30).

Here we see the great danger to the status quo of men such as Pound, bearers of perfectly simple and self-evident truths in contrast to those who becloud the mental landscape with the thick fog of their pseudo-thought, and then charge a handsome fee to act as our guides.

EP : "Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.... The fogged language of the swindling classes serves only a temporary purpose" (p.33).

How do we charge language to the utmost possible degree with meaning? Read Chaper 8, which takes up a whole page and a half. Note also that Pound does not merely confine himself to TELLING us what good literature is. As an artist he knows that SHOWING is even more important, and in the second half of this small book he has assembled a collection of EXHIBITS, passages of literature both great and less than great, a sort of mini-anthology of exercises to test our new-found wits.

Pound's 'ABC of Reading' is a golden book that should be read by everyone who cares about literature, and certainly by all students of literature. It is studded with valuable thoughts you will never forget, and in its brief compass provides us with a total aesthetic. It is also both easy to read - as is all clear and genuine thought - and hugely enjoyable. Gallic tripe may safely be ignored. Pound's ABC will lead you out of the fog.

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