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“Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74”

Year 2023, Volume: 33 Issue: 2, 417 - 435, 25.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548

Abstract

On May 24, 1945, Ezra Pound was arrested for treason by the US Army authorities near Pisa and confined in a gorilla cage for two and a half weeks. He spent a total of 6 months in a prison camp. After being brought to America on December 21, 1945, he was declared medically unfit for trial and was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital. However, there was a group of skeptical people who claimed that the poet was in fact quite sane. Studies about Pound’s life after his imprisonment and years at St. Elizabeths portray the poet as either an old delusional man who was once a prominent poet or as a great schemer who followed the advice of his lawyer and faked madness. Pound’s biographers pointed out that during his years at St. Elizabeths, the place became a literary mecca for aspiring poets, implying that the poet was in a rational state of mind. After more than 70 years since the poet entered the hospital, it is crucial to investigate not whether the poet was mad but rather how the poet’s words in “Canto 74” were utilized as evidence to persuade the jury and doctors of his insanity. This article aims to analyze “Canto 74” in light of Foucault’s approaches to madness and its relation to language. It further explores why The Pisan Cantos, which was declared the Bollingen prize winner in 1948, could be mistaken for the rambling manifestations of a madman.

References

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  • Rushing, C. L. (1987). ‘Mere words’: The trial of ezra pound. Critical Inquiry, 14(1), 111-133. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/1343574 google scholar
  • Swift, D. (2017). The Bughouse: The Poetry, Politics and Madness of Ezra Pound. New York, NY: Penguin Vintage. google scholar
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  • Thiher, A. (2002). Revels in madness: insanity in medicine and literature. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. google scholar Torrey, E. F. (1984). The roots of treason: Ezra pound and the secrets of st. Elizabeths. Lucas, KS: Lucas Books. google scholar
Year 2023, Volume: 33 Issue: 2, 417 - 435, 25.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548

Abstract

References

  • Bernaerts, L & Herman, L., & Vervaeck, B. (2009). Narrative threads of madness. Style 43(3), 283-290. https://www. jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.43.3.283 google scholar
  • Bernaerts, L. (2009) Fight club and the embedding of delirium in narrative. Style, 43(3), 373-387. https://www. jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.43.3.373 google scholar
  • Bush, R. & Eyck, D. T. (2013). A critical edition of ezra pound’s pisan cantos: problems and solutions. Textual Cultures, 8(2), 121-141. Project Muse, doi: 10.14434/tc.v8i2.13278 google scholar
  • Chace, W. M. (1987). Ezra pound: ‘insanity,’ ‘treason,’ and care.” Critical Inquiry, 14(1), 134-141. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1343575 google scholar
  • Cornell, J. (1966). The trial of ezra pound. London, UK: Faber and Faber. google scholar
  • Feldman, M. (2012). The ‘pound case’ in historical perspective: an archival overview.” Journal of Modern Literature, google scholar
  • 35(2), 83-97. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jmodelite.35.2.83 google scholar
  • Felman, S. (2003) Writing and madness: literature/philosophy/psychoanalysis. Stanford: Stanford University Press. google scholar
  • Flack, L. C. (2015). “‘The news in the odyssey is still news’: Ezra Pound, W. H. D. rouse, and a modern odyssey.” Modernism/Modernity, 22(1), 105-124. doi: 10.1353/mod.2015.0001 google scholar
  • Foucault, M. (2015). Language, madness and desire. Minnesota: University of Minnesota P. (1988). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason. New York, NY: Vintage. google scholar
  • Miyatsu, R. (2018). ‘Hundreds of people like me’: a search for a mad community in the bell jar. In E. J. Donaldson (Ed.), Literatures of madness: Disability studies and mental health. London, UK: Palgrave. google scholar
  • Moody, D. (2015) Ezra pound: Poet, a portrait of the man and his work, vol. III: The tragic years 1939-1972. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. google scholar
  • Morall, P. (2017). Madness: Ideas about insanity. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, Routledge. google scholar
  • Moramarco, F. (1977). Concluding an epic: The drafts and fragments of the cantos. American Literature, 49(3), 309-326. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2924984 google scholar
  • Pound, E. (1996). The Cantos of Ezra Pound. New York, NY: New Directions. google scholar
  • Rushing, C. L. (1987). ‘Mere words’: The trial of ezra pound. Critical Inquiry, 14(1), 111-133. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/1343574 google scholar
  • Swift, D. (2017). The Bughouse: The Poetry, Politics and Madness of Ezra Pound. New York, NY: Penguin Vintage. google scholar
  • Terrell, C. F. (1984). A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. google scholar
  • Thiher, A. (2002). Revels in madness: insanity in medicine and literature. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. google scholar Torrey, E. F. (1984). The roots of treason: Ezra pound and the secrets of st. Elizabeths. Lucas, KS: Lucas Books. google scholar
There are 19 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Seda Şen 0000-0001-8854-2733

Publication Date December 25, 2023
Submission Date May 2, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 33 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Şen, S. (2023). “Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 33(2), 417-435. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548
AMA Şen S.“Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74.” Litera. December 2023;33(2):417-435. doi:10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548
Chicago Şen, Seda. ““Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in ‘Canto 74’”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 33, no. 2 (December 2023): 417-35. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548.
EndNote Şen S (December 1, 2023) “Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 33 2 417–435.
IEEE S. Şen, ““Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in ‘Canto 74’”, Litera, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 417–435, 2023, doi: 10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548.
ISNAD Şen, Seda. ““Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in ‘Canto 74’”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies 33/2 (December 2023), 417-435. https://doi.org/10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548.
JAMA Şen S. “Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74”. Litera. 2023;33:417–435.
MLA Şen, Seda. ““Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in ‘Canto 74’”. Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2023, pp. 417-35, doi:10.26650/LITERA2023-1291548.
Vancouver Şen S. “Tempus Tacendi, Tempus Loquendi”: Manifestations of Madness in “Canto 74”. Litera. 2023;33(2):417-35.