Biographie de l'auteur New Directions has been the primary publisher of Ezra Pound in the U.S. since the founding of the press when James Laughlin published New Directions in Prose and Poetry 1936. That year Pound was fifty-one. In Laughlin's first letter to Pound, he wrote: "Expect, please, no fireworks. I am bourgeois-born (Pittsburgh); have never missed a meal. . . . But full of 'noble caring' for something as inconceivable as the future of decent letters in the US." Little did Pound know that into the twenty-first century the fireworks would keep exploding as readers continue to find his books relevant and meaningful. Présentation de l'éditeur In making this selection, writes William Cookson in his introduction to this paperback edition of early and out-of-print writings, my aim has been to show the unity of Ezra Pound's concern. The sixty-six pieces in Pound's Selected Prose 1909-1965 are arranged thematically, and while they are organized chronologically within several groupings, there are natural cross-currents of thoughts among them. Particular emphasis, however, is given to the article concerned with Civilization, Money and History. This section contains such essential texts as the ABC of Economics and What is Money For? as well as two essays - Gold and Work and A Visiting Car - translated from Pound's Italian and never before published in English in their entirety. Much space is devoted, too, to Pound's evaluation of his native America, its history, culture, economy, and his 1913 essay, Patria Mia, is reprinted.
