CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

CHRONOLOGY

PART ONE : 1921–1932

1. A Year in Paris, 1921–1924

Nature, genius, and the state of the worldCanto II: seeing the light Le Testament or Pound’s Villon: in the darkA new theory of harmonyYear 1 of a new era: kaleidoscopeA renaissance manLife and times: 1923–1924

2. From Rapallo, 1924–1932

Human complicationsSaving the world by pure formA sextant for A Draft of XXX Cantos Literary relations old and newIn the sphere of actionCavalcanti: the intelligence of loveThreads, tesserae

PART TWO : 1933–1939

3. A Democrat in Italy, 1933

Il Poeta meets Il DuceRevolutionary economicsMaking music of history: Cantos 31–41 Note: A historian, the Bank Wars, and the New Deal

4. Things Fall Apart, 1933–1937

To spread order about himThe turning point: 1935–1936‘The boss knows his business’Music, money, cantos The Fifth Decad: against UsuraThe form and pressure of the time

5. Ideas of Order, 1937–1939

‘Immediate need of Confucius’Signor Mussolini speaksTo educateAnschlussGoing wrong, thinking of rightnessCzechoslovakia sacrificedComings and goingsThe end of CzechoslovakiaTwo books for governors: (1) cantos 52–61Two books for governors: (2) cantos 62–71

6. Alien in America

Appendices

A. Outline of Pound’s Le Testament or Villon

B. A brief history of Le Testament or Villon

C. Outline of Cavalcanti. A sung dramedy in 3 acts

D. ‘Huey, God bless him’, an unpublished article (1935)

E. The founding of the Bank of England, and the US National Banking Act

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INDEX