Katrin Frisch THE WORD F Pound, Eliot, Lewis, and the Far Right λογος Katrin Frisch The F-Word Pound, Eliot, Lewis, and the Far Right Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet uber¨ http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschutzt.¨ Das Werk steht unter der Creative-Commons-Lizenz Namensnennung-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.de). Ausgenommen von der oben genannten Lizenz sind Teile, Abbildungen und sonstiges Drittmaterial, wenn anders gekennzeichnet. Dieses Buch entstand aus einer Dissertation (eingereicht mit dem Titel: The F-Word: Interdependencies of Right-Wing Ideology and Modernist Writing: Pound, Eliot, and Lewis) am Institut fur¨ Anglistik/Amerikanistik der Humboldt-Universit¨at zu Berlin in Kooperation mit dem King’s College London. Erm¨oglicht wurde die Promotion durch ein Promotionsstipendium der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Die Ver¨offentlichung wurde aus Mitteln des Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der Humboldt-Universit¨at zu Berlin gef¨ordert. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6669-5015 Covergestaltung: Mike Moses Wunder Gedruckt und Ver¨offentlicht durch den Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH 2019 ISBN 978-3-8325-4972-5 Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH Comeniushof, Gubener Str. 47, 10243 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0)30 42 85 10 90 Fax: +49 (0)30 42 85 10 92 INTERNET: https://www.logos-verlag.de TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. LOOKING AT THE F-WORD AND BEYOND 11 Right-wing ideology 13 Fascism and Nazism 18 The matter of anti-Semitism 22 The matter of racism 26 A very short history of right-wing ideology 28 Right-wing ideology in literature 36 3. THE POEM AS PROPAGANDA – EZRA POUND 39 ‘Der Jud will Geld’ 47 A ‘stupid suburban prejudice’? 57 ‘MA QVESTO’ 64 ‘His rod hath made god in my belly’ 79 Mere words? – The poem on trial 87 4. T. S. ELIOT – THE CONSERVATIVE COLLABORATOR 95 ‘I was neither living nor dead’ 108 ‘They wash their feet in soda water’ 117 ‘It’s them pills I took, to bring it off’ 124 ‘I’ll convert you! Into a stew!’ 133 ‘The jew is underneath the lot 144 Final thoughts 155 5. NO MEN IN NO MAN’S LAND – WYNDHAM LEWIS 157 ‘I was never real. Am I?’ 168 ‘We are primitive and proud of it!’ 178 ‘You do not believe in the sex-goods you deal in...’ 190 ‘It’s too marvellous he’s Black!’ 198 ‘Oh! I am not progressive’ 209 6. ‘WHICH BOOK RED PILLED YOU?’ – RIGHT-WING RECEPTION 219 Who is the New Far Right 222 Early right-wing reception of Pound and Eliot 227 Contemporary right-wing reception 235 Counter-Currents 235 Kerry Bolton: Artists of the Right 236 Jonathan Bowden 245 The Occidental Quarterly 255 Sezession 259 CasaPound 263 Final thoughts 266 7. DO CIVILIZED PEOPLES EXECUTE THEIR POETS? 269 NOTES 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY 355 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes about an equal amount of people to write a book. It all started with a term paper for a seminar on Modernist Po- etry. Stephan Lieske’s feedback and encouragement gave me the confidence to pursue the matter further. My research culminated in a Master’s thesis on Vorticism and the Proto-Fascist Tradition, which was jointly supervised by Prof. Dr Eveline Kilian (Humboldt-University Berlin) and Prof. Dr Max Saunders (King’s College London), who would afterwards also become su- pervisors of my PhD thesis, originally titled The F-Word: Interdependencies of Right-Wing Ideology and Modernist Writing: Pound, Eliot, Lewis, on which this book is based. I have profited from their knowledge, guidance, and expertise. Eveline Kilian’s meticulous readings of my drafts helped me to improve my literary analyses and hone my arguments. I was fortunate to be part of Eveline Kilian’s colloquium, which always offered a supportive space to discuss unfin- ished ideas and raw material. I also want to extend thanks to Dr Jon Day, whose extensive feedback was a great help to me when I revised this PhD thesis in preparation for its publication. I also relied on the generous funding of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, without which I could not have embarked upon this journey. Their scholarship programme also gave me the opportunity to meet like-minded people, some of whom eventually became friends. I am furthermore indebted to the brilliant set of people also known as the cabin crew: Shirley, Julia, Kathrin, Barbara, Rebeca, and Schu. Their sup- port and general awesomeness have made my days lighter and the book in its final state better. I especially want to thank Shirley and Julia for all the work they put into this project. Shirley’s moral support has kept me going, her in- tellectual support helped me grow as an academic. Julia is the most assiduous proofreader I know, who would pore over my text as if it was her own. She also spent countless hours with me talking through my arguments, doubts, and ideas. I am beyond grateful to count them among my closest friends. Many other friends have supported me during the time of my PhD. I want to thank Kai, Katharina, Júlia, and Ina for reading and commenting on individual chapters or passages and for sharing their knowledge with me. Marty, Stephan, Steffi, Diana, Jakob, and Izzy offered advice whenever I needed it, but mostly, they helped me to keep sane. Similarly Trish, Pablo, and Josie made me feel at home when I was living in London: I cherish the many hours we spent together. Writing this thesis has often filled me with dread and self-doubt, so I owe a debt of gratitude to all who reassured me i that this project was worthwhile to keep going, who sympathetically listened to my rants, and believed in me even when I did not. Special thanks go to Mike, who designed the cover. Finally I want to thank my family, especially my Mum, who always supported me, even if they did not always understand why one would voluntarily spend years analysing right-wing literature. ii 1. INTRODUCTION Few concepts have had a more fascinating trajectory than right-wing ideology. Officially born as a political concept in the wake of the French Revolution, it grew with renewed force in the beginning of the twentieth century, reaching its climax in the fascist regimes. The story many democratic Western nations like to tell about themselves is that after the defeat of the Axis forces, right- wing ideology and many of its radical proponents went into hiding. During the Cold War for many Western states the enemy was lurking on the Left. And while in several countries the conservative democratic Right were in charge, they usually distanced themselves from the more radical right-wing elements that dwelled on society’s fringes. Sometimes, these radical elements violently forced their way into the heart of society, as evidenced by racist vio- lence in the U.S. as a reaction against the Civil Rights movement, the British race riots, and specific right-wing motivated attacks such as the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, the Bologna massacre in 1980, the Oktoberfest bomb- ing in 1980, the Norway attacks in 2011, and the Christchurch massacre in 2019 to list only the deadliest. Yet overall, it seemed that radical right-wing ideas had lost their relevance, when suddenly a few years ago the far right made its surprising comeback. Today we have relapsed, some would say, into the politically unstable times of the 1930s. This story is not entirely true. Not only does it leave out the perspective of many marginalised groups, who have continually lived under consistent threat from right-wing forces, it also glosses over the complicity between po- litical mainstream and right-wing ideology and its advocates. The Allied forces in the Second World War may have triumphed over the fascist regimes, but they have not defeated these regimes’ underlying ideology. Right-wing ideolo- gy, even its more radical and extreme forms, did not merely dwell on the margins of societies, but had a powerful influence on political discourse and political practice. What is noteworthy is that very often the far right were used by the political mainstream as ‘imaginary antagonists’, useful tools to sway public opinion and to paint the political mainstream forces in a more positive light. Right-wing ideology is not as marginalised as it is sometimes presented. This holds especially true for the first decade of the 20th century. While in hindsight fascism is usually considered the evil other, fascist and other ex- treme right-wing ideas circulated widely in all western democratic societies. Looking back at the crucial decades that paved the way for the right-wing dic- tatorships and the Second World War it becomes clear that the unprecedent- ed rise of fascist movements cannot be considered a historic aberration at odds with the progressive developments of Western democracies in the 20th century, but that it was in fact deeply rooted in those same developments. A realm that illustrates these complicated dynamics is that of Modernist litera- ture. It is especially here that retrospective views ignore the rich reservoir of right-wing ideas in favour of highlighting the stylistic innovations many Mod- ernist artists and movements created. In fact, radical stylistic innovation is of- ten equated or confused with a progressive world-view. This has led to an in- visibility or understatement of the importance of right-wing ideology in and for Modernism: not because the authors concerned are no longer read but because their political allegiances remain – deliberately or not – unmentioned, downplayed or distorted.