The first volume of Moody's biography helped me no end as I was finishing up my dissertation, and this volume lives up to my memories. It's stylishly written, and a perfect mix of literary criticism (long condensations of the Cantos, with at least a sentence or two on each of them) and biography (focusing on what Pound did and said, rather than trying to get into his mind or emotions).

It's truly astonishing how important Pound was as a literary force; people have been making that point since, at least, Kenner's 'Pound Era.' But Moody is more willing to criticize Pound's ideas (rather often bad and/or immoral), without believing that their badness or immorality makes the man himself uninteresting. In fact, he assumes exactly the opposite, and tries to put the best possible spin on Pound's prose... right up until he says something truly despicable (usually about 'the Jews'). At that point Moody comes down on him as hard as anyone should.

Pound is fascinating because he's a kind of 20th century Ideal Type: democrat, yes, but also fascist; materialist, yes, but also obsessed with medieval metaphysics; writer of astonishing abilities who lets leftover romantic stupidities about poetry (essentially turning it into a religious vocation) distort what should have been one of the greatest collected poems of the century.

He wrote some incredible poems; he had an uncanny sense for what was truly important in art and worked tirelessly to promote it (see: Eliot, Joyce, Vivaldi). It's often said that Pound never really went insane, that the insanity was all a legal fiction designed to keep him off the gallows. But it's impossible to read the last third of this book and not see Pound's as a deeply disordered mind. Moody doesn't draw that conclusion; he simply gives you the evidence to draw your own, while making his own argument. A model biography. ( )