Pound to Eliot

I’m not an especial Eliot fan (though I do find him interesting). I just happen to be browsing a biography at the moment.

Here is Ezra Pound’s response to receiving the manuscript of The Waste Land:

“Complimenti, you bitch. I am racked by the seven jealousies.”

Not only is this funny in its own right. It’s even funnier in that it makes not the least adjustment to Eliot’s cramped and stuffy personality. Everyone like Eliot needs a friend like Pound.