Drawing extensively on archival research, The Late Cantos of Ezra Pound critically explores the textual history of Pound's late verse, namely Section: Rock-Drill (1955) and Thrones (1959). Examining unpublished letters, draft manuscripts and other prepublication material, this book addresses the composition, revision and dissemination of these difficult texts in order to shed new light on their significance to Pound's wider project, his methods and techniques, and the structures of authority--literary and political-that govern the meaning of his poetry. 

CONTENTS

1. Introduction: “The Text is Somewhat Exigeant”: the Lateness of Pound's Late Cantos

2. “I Have Always Loathed Reading”: the Trouble with Philology

3. “To Copy and Amplify”: Totalitarian Scholarship in Section: Rock-Drill

4. “No, That Is Not Textual”: the Immaterial Language of Thrones

5. “A Butcher's Block for Biographers”: On Pound's Quiddity

6. Conclusion: “Ego, Scriptor Cantilenae”: Authority Reconsidered

Appendices and Figures

Bibliography