Jefferson and/or Mussolini

Jefferson and/or Mussolini: L'Idea Statale Fascism as I Have Seen It is a book by the American ex-patriate poet and fascist collaborator Ezra Pound. It was first published in 1935 by Stanley Nott Ltd in London.[1]

Ezra Pound (1885–1972), c. 1920

The book compares Benito Mussolini, then Prime Minister of Italy and leader of the National Fascist Party, to Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. Pound, who lived from 1924 in Rapallo, Italy, wrote the book shortly after meeting Mussolini on 30 January 1933. His agent had the manuscript by the end of February.[2]

Pound argues that "[t]he fundamental likenesses between these two men are probably greater than their difference."[3] In fact, most of the book is about Mussolini and devoted to his defence.[4] Pound had trouble finding a publisher. In the book's front matter he writes:

April 1935, Anno XIII, finally a foreword.

The body of this MS was written and left my hands in February 1933. 40 publishers have refused it. No typescript of mine has been read by so many people or brought me a more interesting correspondence. It is here printed verbatim, unaltered. I had not seen the MS from the time it left Rapallo till it returned here with the galley proof. It is printed as record of what I saw in February 1933. The September preface (1933) indicated a flutter of hope, that has grown steadily more fluttery and less hopeful.[1]

References
  1. Pound 1970.
  2. Moody 2014, 137.
  3. Pound 1970, 11.
  4. Redman 1991, 102.

Works cited
  • Moody, A. David (2014). Ezra Pound: Poet. A Portrait of the Man and His Work. II: The Epic Years 1921–1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-921558-4
  • Pound, Ezra (1970) [1935]. Jefferson and/or Mussolini. New York: Liverright.
  • Redman, Tim (1991). Ezra Pound and Italian Fascism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37305-0
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