4pQonT

162 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL
Ezra could not remain without a voice after such a biting attack,
and he immediately started his own magazine, The Exile, in which
he displayed his current disciples as a phalanx against Lewis' continued
blasts. He did not answer Lewis directly; indeed, it would
have been difficult to do so, as The Enemy had simply put its
head down and charged. Modern art in its more extreme manifestations
irritated Lewis, and, rightly or wrongly, he blamed
Pound for Joyce, Stein, and perhaps even for Oswald Spengler.
During most of his life, Pound has been under attack as the
symbol of something that somebody didn't like, whether it was
Imagist poetry, Vorticist sculpture, or Fascism. The odd thing
is that he is never praised for anything. If a critic likes an
Imagist poet, he praises the poet without mentioning Pound; but
if he dislikes Imagism, he dashes past Amy Lowell to get in a
blow at Pound. In the same way, if someone has a good word
to say for Fascism, he praises Mussolini, but if he dislikes
Fascism, he ignores Mussolini and attacks Pound. This is due to
Pound's predilection for sticking his neck out, and for drawing
the erratic fire of various citizens and soldiers to himself. Usually,
he is not seriously involved in any of these movements—his first
and foremost concern has always been his own work, which has
never owed its life to any of these schools—but he is the first
target to draw fire.
At any rate, the initial number of The Exile, dated Spring,
1927, contained the work of Ernest Hemingway, John Rodker,
Guy Hickok, and Richard Aldington. Ezra included part of his
"Canto XX".
Hemingway's contribution was embarrassingly inept—a short
work entitled "Neothomist Poem", which reads as follows:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
him for long[.]
With his usual biting humor, Aldington contributed a poem entitled,
"Natal Verse for the Birth of a New Review":
Let us resurrect the useful word Dick kopfig,
Let us apply it to those it fits,