Is Ezra Pound's focus on economics a contradiction to his art?
Contradiction? Bah! Art and economics are inextricably linked. 'Usura' gnaws at the soul of a nation, just as it gnaws at the aesthetic integrity of its art. How can true beauty flourish when the very means of exchange are corrupted, when the 'lumpenproletariat of the intellect' reigns supreme? My Cantos grapple with this because one cannot divorce the spiritual health of a culture from its material underpinnings. A debased currency breeds debased thought and debased art. It is all one interconnected malady.
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