From steven@sizcol1.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp Wed Mar 8 19:03:16 2000 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id TAA31794 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 19:03:16 -0800 Received: from ham.t.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp (sizcol.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp [133.33.105.11]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id TAA24426 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 19:03:13 -0800 Received: from steven ([133.33.106.107]) by ham.t.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp (8.9.3/3.7W-98122215) with ESMTP id MAA10399 for ; Thu, 9 Mar 2000 12:03:28 +0900 (JST) Message-Id: <200003090303.MAA10399@ham.t.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp> From: "Steven J. Willett" To: classics@u.washington.edu Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 12:12:28 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: beautiful language Reply-to: steven@sizcol1.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp In-reply-to: References: <200003080653.PAA08022@ham.t.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) On 8 Mar 00, at 10:45, David Lupher wrote: > Both gents did nod occasionally, and I wouldn't want to be labeled a > Poundian or a Wintersian, but re. the much maligned latter, let me > ask if anyone can think of another critic who did a better job of > calling attention to neglected poets. No, I can't. Good point, for Pound especially. But in finding and promoting some first-rate poets, he was relying on instinct, not theory. Its those instincts that I admire and, of course, much of the poetry. > So I guess I'm more promiscuous in my tastes than you are, for I manage > to enjoy James, Mann, *and* Joyce. And I hope to stay spineless for a > while longer. One way I intend to do so is to postpone as long > as possible following your advice to read Gombrowicz and Beckett on > Dante. There may come a day when I will be happy to scratch Dante off > my list, but thank God it won't be today or tomorrow. I don't know, David, I'm pretty promiscuous in my tastes. But since I've denigrated Joyce, who was crammed down my throat well basted in laud from high school to graduate school, let me say on a positive note that Musil's _Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften_ is surely a better and far more comprehensive novel--if incomplete. His star is just starting to rise. And just to correct a misperception: I have not suggested anyone write Dante off his or her list by reading Gombrowicz. As you must know from catching my past allusions, I love Dante and read him regularly. But Witold has much of importance to say, and so does Beckett. You surely know how much Beckett thought of Dante? ========================================== Steven J. Willett University of Shizuoka, Hamamatsu Campus 2-3 Nunohashi 3-chome Hamamatsu City, Japan 432-8012 Voice: (53) 457-4514; Fax: (53) 457-4514 Japan email: steven@sizcol1.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp US email: sjwillett@earthlink.net .