Ambition and Anxiety: Ezra Pound's 'Cantos' and Derek Walcott's 'Omeros' as Twentieth-Century Epics (Cross Cultures 88) (Cross Cultures)

367 Pages·2007·3.41 MB·English

by  Line Henriksen

Ambition and Anxiety
Ezra Pound’s Cantos
and Derek Walcott’s Omeros
as Twentieth-Century Epics
C ros s
Readings in the Post / Colonial
ultures
Literatures in English
88
Series Editors
Gordon Collier Hena Maes–Jelinek Geoffrey Davis
(Giessen) (Liège) (Aachen)
Ambition and Anxiety
Ezra Pound’s Cantos
and Derek Walcott’s Omeros
as Twentieth-Century Epics
Line Henriksen
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2006
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
“ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for
documents - Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN-13: 978-90-420-2149-5
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2006
Printed in The Netherlands
For my mother and brother
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xiii

1 Homer and Genre 27
2 Dante and Christian Epic 49
3 Epic Anxiety and Imperialistic Epic 105
4 Metonymic Epic 163
5 Caribbean Epic 231
6 Metaphoric Epic 263

Works Cited 299
Index 313
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Acknowledgements

T
HIS BOOK is about the ambition to accomplish a major project
and the anxiety that is apparently inevitably brought about by that
ambition. Such anxiety is probably best countered by the knowl-
edge that whatever we take on, we need never do alone: indeed, the principal
act of presumption might be the very belief that we could ever do it alone.
So, too, with this book, which is in fact a compilation of input from in-
numerable sources. Some are mentioned with due diligence in the footnotes
that follow; I am happy to be able to thank the many others, whose support
and contributions have been more personal and direct, here.
My primary debts of gratitude are owed to Charles Lock for providing
unfailingly enthusiastic and insightful supervision of the doctoral dissertation
that forms the basis of this work and for bringing new intellectual inspiration
(!) to Copenhagen, and to Tabish Khair, who took the initiative of forward-
ing the original manuscript to Editions Rodopi. At Rodopi, Gordon Collier
edited this volume and provided all sorts of technical assistance, including
the compilation of the index, for which I am very grateful.
As examiners of the original doctoral dissertation, Jerome McGann and
the now late Max Nänny gave me much valuable feedback and criticism as
well as encouragement. I had hoped to see Nänny again and thank him in
person for his example and interest. Unfortunately that was not to be.
My first encounter with Walcott’s work was brought about by Bruce
Clunies Ross, whose special course on Omeros was one of the most gratifying
experiences of my time as a student. Martin Leer, with his vast knowledge of
matters Caribbean and beyond, has been a constant source of inspiration. I
want to thank Lars Håkon Svensson, who shared useful insights into Virgil
scholarship with me, and A.D. Moody, who was in charge of my first intro-
duction to Pound studies. Lene Østermark–Johansen has been a mentor to
me since my ambitious student days; Christopher Gray was my guide to
Trinidad and West Indian poetry. To Ann, Christian, Eva, Gorm, Jon and