Ezra Pound''s Fascist Propaganda, 1935-45

Ezra Pound was an influential propagandist for British, Italian and ultimately German fascist movements. Using long-neglected manuscripts and cutting-edge approaches to fascism as a 'political religion', Feldman argues that Pound's case offers a revealing case study of a modernist author turned propagator of the 'fascist faith'.

Often dismissed as simply ''bad'' or ''mad'', the nature of Ezra Pound''s fascist propaganda has been much discussed, but far less well understood to date. In consequence, the extent of Pound''s activism has been wildly underestimated; there are, for example, thousands of pro-Axis radio items during WWII. These manuscripts, extending to extensive propaganda strategies and a dozen pseudonymous names, collectively reveal a modernist author far more engaged with the Axis war effort than has been previously acknowledged. Feldman''s ''new historicist'' approach argues that Pound was a committed, influential and significant Anglophone propagandist for Mosley''s BUF, Mussolini''s Italy and finally, Hitler''s Germany. Through close analysis of historical context and an approach to Pound''s fascist activism through the lens of ''political religions'' theory, Ezra Pound'' Fascist Propaganda, 1935-1945 challenges conventional wisdom on this canonical modernist by finding Pound to be a leading propagator of the ''fascist faith''.