4pQonT

22 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL
joined us that afternoon. Many people who would have liked to
visit him were fearful of doing so because they had to apply by
letter. Since Ezra had been accused of treason against the present
office-holders, those who visited him incurred considerable risk. A
visitor might be promptly investigated by government agents, and
some of them lost their jobs.
Later on, journalists began to carp about the fact that some of
Pound's visitors were anarchists or other types of extremists, the
forerunners of the beatniks. But people who had something to lose
could not afford to visit Pound and incur the inevitable penalties.
Despite the fact that many literate persons who occupied subordinate
positions in the government read and admired Pound's work,
none of them dared to visit him. Even Huntingdon Cairns, who
holds a fairly lofty post at the National Gallery, would only risk
seeing Pound a few times during the twelve and a half years of his
imprisonment in Washington.
Consequently, Pound's visitors could be divided into two groups,
the youthful and reckless art students, or beatniks, and those admirers
of his work who came from other countries and were therefore
immune to reprisals by the federal government. This group
included scholars and diplomats from almost every country in the
world except Russia.
The Flemings were respectful but somewhat wary in their attitude
toward Pound. They conducted themselves in the manner of
Gray Ladies visiting a sickroom. They were proud to know him,
but they were like a prim couple calling on a wealthy old uncle of
whom they disapproved but whom they did not wish to alienate.
They later complained to me that they had to endure harsh criticism
from many of their liberal friends because they had been visiting
Pound. It did not occur to them that their liberal friends should not
dictate their choice in this matter. When John Kasper became a
celebrated figure, the Flemings vanished from the scene and did not
reappear for many months, although Pound neither sponsored nor
approved of Kasper's political activities.
For his part, Pound was very fond of the Flemings. They had
been his earliest and most faithful visitors during the gloomiest
years in the madhouse. They had arrived on the scene while he was