in addition to being an okay poet, I was also a much nicer person than Pound, and, at least by comparison, pretty sane. Not that those distinctions are hard to accomplish.

No doubt! I do like some of EP’s poetry (especially the shorter stuff) and I appreciate the careful and sympathetic editing and counsel he gave to TSE, for instance. But, in lots of ways, he really did put the rat in rat-bastard.

Academia’s frosty embrace is dangerously seductive; I’m sure lots of creativity has gone to sleep there, never to wake again. On the other hand, it does offer opportunities for reading and writing that most jobs don’t… Feeling sleepy. Senses fading…

Beautifully put! English departments are chockablock with people who thought academia would be a fine day job for a novelist, and almost all of them give up writing fiction of any kind before they finish their degrees. Most of their muses die of respectability poisoning.

I remember when I was working up my courage to leave academia, I got into a long argument with the ghost of Ezra Pound. “What do you got that I ain’t got?” I asked him, because in addition to being an okay poet, I was also a much nicer person than Pound, and, at least by comparison, pretty sane. Not that those distinctions are hard to accomplish.

“You’re such a good girl,” said Pound’s ghost. “You’ve never quit anything, flunked out of anything, gotten caught at anything, gotten kicked out of anything, or had to high-tail it out of anything. You don’t need to take up anti-semitism or infidelity, but for gods’s sakes, get fired at least once in your life.”

I’d like to say I took his advice, but all the non-tenure-track people in my department got laid off in a budget crisis before I could do anything to deserve a dismissal. He’s some of the reason I stayed gone, though. Bless nutty, nasty old Ezra.

Hey Claire:

Throwing butter sculpture has got to be a better strategy. Has any army using butter sculpture as a weapon ever lost a culture war? Not as far as I know! Q.E.D.!

After reading the John Howell article yesterday my mood took a down-turn. But I like your argument better anyway - I believe I shall make others aware of it.

It is so easy to get uppity and desperate! Better to put on the red nose and throw butter sculptures at “The Establishment.”