“I hope someone will go tomorrow and bring a flower to my father’s grave.” This is the hope expressed by Mary de Rachewiltz, 97, daughter of Ezra Pound, 50 years after her death, from the castle in Dorf Tirol near Merano.
Mary never took the surname of the great poet and intellectual because she was born from her father’s extramarital affair with the violinist Olga Rudge and was initially not recognized. “It was not at all difficult to have a father-daughter relationship with him: he was very affectionate. And then, he was really a very intelligent person: he tried to convey to me the many things he knew, unfortunately with few results … He was really a genius, compared to me nothing more than a simple college student “, continues Mrs. Mary, poet and essayist. .
But what was the strongest teaching your father received? «Do not get into debt – the daughter answers confidently – Unfortunately, this practical teaching was not followed by all the members of the family …». As for the more “ideological” teachings, for Mary “the positions expressed by my father were very sensible: he simply looked into Mussolini’s eyes and understood him immediately”.
Ezra Pound’s daughter then complains: «Unfortunately, the Italians did not take my father seriously. When he came back they welcomed him but they also said “enough with the peanuts” about the priority of the agricultural sector ».
Not even America has treated Ezra Pound too well, adds his daughter “the literary and philosophical value of his” Cantos “, comparable to Dante’s” Divine Comedy “, was not recognized.” Difficult to read? Like everything that is worth, you have to climb to reach it ».
As for the day of Ezra Pound’s death, he says: «My mother phoned me, I immediately ran to the hospital in Venice but I arrived when he was already dead; my mother proudly revealed to me that he wanted to walk to the motorboat which then took him to the hospital. Every year we used to go to the cemetery, this year it won’t be possible but I hope someone goes to bring the flowers ».