A Guide to Ezra Pound's Personae (1926) - by K K Ruthven (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Both a commentary on and a critical appreciation of the work of the early Pound. It starts off with a luci introduction to Pound's technique in general, and to his imagist phase (during which the poems commented on in this book were written) in particular. In the critical passages Mr. Ruthven steers a sage middle course between the attitudes of uncritical adoration and wholesale rejection that mar so much of the literature on Pound. . . . informative without being pedantic, and exhaustive without being long-winded. . . .To turn to Mr. Ruthven's Guide is to follow in the footsteps of an intelligent, sensitive and reliable scholar." --English Studies This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.

From the Back Cover

"Delightful . . . chock-full of the information readers of the Personae need. More important, Ruthven refuses to stay in the place of a handbook drudge. His feelings and judgments about the poems, concerning which he is ostensibly providing only neutral facts, are manifest everywhere. Thus his work is full of implications relating it to the more serious criticism." --Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism "He has attempted the annotation of the poems Pund allowed to remain in Personae (1926), his primary attention being directed to textual variants (rather few), allusions (many) and translations (many). The Guide is . . . extremely well done." --Times Literary Supplement "Comprehensive, meticulous, and extremely helpful for the scholar, student, and general reader." --Choice

About the Author

K. K. Ruthven is an Emeritus Professor.