First published 1992
Ezra Pound sits in his study, surrounded by fragments of his life's work. The aging poet faces the weight of his choices during World War II, when his radio broadcasts from Italy brought accusations of treason. Now released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, he struggles to reconcile his literary achievements with his political past. His daughter visits, bringing news from the outside world he helped shape through his influence on writers like T.S. Eliot and James Joyce. Pound grapples with memory, legacy, and the cost of his convictions. The man who once declared himself the voice of modern poetry now confronts silence and isolation. His wife tends to their crumbling Italian home while he retreats deeper into himself. The final chapters of a turbulent life unfold against the backdrop of a changing world that has moved beyond his vision of cultural renewal.
Genres: biography, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Italy, St. Elizabeths Hospital
Period: World War II
372 pages · Paperback · Citadel Pr
Content warnings: war