Olga Rudge and Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..." - Hardcover

Conover, Ms. Anne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300087039 ISBN 13: 9780300087031

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2001

Synopsis

A loving and admiring companion for half a century to literary titan Ezra Pound, concert violinist Olga Rudge was the muse who inspired the poet to complete his epic poem, The Cantos, and the mother of his only daughter, Mary. Strong-minded and defiant of conventions, Rudge knew the best and worst of times with Pound. With him, she coped with the wrenching dislocations brought about by two catastrophic world wars and experienced modernism’s radical transformation of the arts.

In this enlightening biography, Anne Conover offers a full portrait of Olga Rudge (1895–1996), drawing for the first time on Rudge’s extensive unpublished personal notebooks and correspondence. Conover explores Rudge’s relationship with Pound, her influence on his life and career, and her perspective on many details of his controversial life, as well as her own musical career as a violinist and musicologist and a key figure in the revival of Vivaldi’s music in the 1930s. In addition to mining documentary sources, the author interviewed Rudge and family members and friends. The result is a vivid account of a highly intelligent and talented woman and the controversial poet whose flame she tended to the end of her long life.

The book quotes extensively from the Rudge–Pound letters--an almost daily correspondence that began in the 1920s and continued until Pound’s death in 1972. These letters shed light on many aspects of Pound’s disturbing personality; the complicated and delicate balance he maintained between the two most significant women in his life, Olga and his wife Dorothy, for fifty years; the birth of Olga and Ezra’s daughter Mary de Rachewiltz; Pound’s alleged anti-Semitism and Fascist sympathies; his wartime broadcasts over Rome radio and indictment for treason; and his twelve-year incarceration in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the mentally ill.

About this title

About the Author

Anne Conover is an independent scholar and biographer currently living in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

As the first scholar to gain access to the papers of Pound's longtime mistress, independent scholar Anne Conover has unearthed plenty of insights into the daily life and thought of Ez and those who surrounded him. Olga Rudge and Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well" documents the whole of Rudge's long life (1895-1996), with emphasis on all things Ezra. While mostly for the faithful, Rudge's 20th-century transcontinental existence as a violinist and musicologist (helping to revive Vivaldi's work) holds interest for feminists and others with interest in the status of women in the arts.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

In this first full biography of concert violinist Olga Rudge, Conover (Caresse Crosby) covers all aspects of her life but focuses on her relationship with Ezra Pound, which lasted for about 50 years. With the extensive use of letters and unpublished notebooks, plus interviews with Rudge and her family and friends, Conover adds to the recent interest in Rudge in periodical literature. The tone of the work is light, and Conover successfully limns Rudge's cultural environment but with a great deal of name dropping. She does not attempt to sentimentalize the relationship between Pound and Rudge, showing negative aspects of their personalities. The work covers Rudge's development as a violinist, her important Vivaldi studies, and her role as librarian-secretary at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana but only as filler between discussions of her meetings with Pound. The work is of limited interest and is recommended only for academic libraries with modern literary collections or a special interest in Pound. Paolina Taglienti, Long Island Univ., Brooklyn, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300087039
• ISBN 13: 9780300087031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368