Let the Wind Speak
Mary de Rachewiltz and Ezra Pound
by Carol Shloss
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Pub Date Feb 21 2023 | Archive Date Jan 17 2023
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Description
Carol Loeb Shloss creates a compelling portrait of a complex relationship of a daughter and her literary-giant father: Ezra Pound and Mary de Rachewiltz, Pound’s child by his long-time mistress, the violinist Olga Rudge. Brought into the world in secret and hidden in the Italian Alps at birth, Mary was raised by German peasant farmers, had Italian identity papers, a German-speaking upbringing, Austrian loyalties common to the area and, perforce, a fascist education.
For years, de Rachewiltz had no idea that Pound and Rudge, the benefactors who would sporadically appear, were her father and mother. Gradually the truth of her parentage was revealed, and with it the knowledge that Dorothy Shakespear, and not Olga, was Pound’s actual wife. Dorothy, in turn, kept her own secrets: while Pound signed the birth certificate of her son, Omar, and claimed legal paternity, he was not the boy’s biological father. Two lies, established at the birth of these children, created a dynamic antagonism that lasted for generations.
Pound maneuvered through it until he was arrested for treason after World War II and shipped back from Italy to the United States, where he was institutionalized rather than imprisoned. As an adult, de Rachewiltz took on the task of claiming a contested heritage and securing her father’s literary legacy in the face of a legal system that failed to recognize her legitimacy. Born on different continents, separated by nationality, related by natural birth, and torn apart by conflict between Italy and America, Mary and Ezra Pound found a way to live out their deep and abiding love for one another.
Let the Wind Speak is both a history of modern writers who were forced to negotiate allegiances to one another and to their adopted countries in a time of mortal conflict, and the story of Mary de Rachewiltz’s navigation through issues of personal identity amid the shifting politics of western nations in peace and war. It is a masterful biography that asks us to consider cultures of secrecy, frayed allegiances, and the boundaries that define nations, families, and politics.
Advance Praise
"In this deeply researched biography of an extraordinary and fascinating living person, Carol Loeb Shloss uncovers web upon web of the lies, secrets, and silences that entangled Mary de Rachewiltz even before her birth as Mary Rudge in 1925 in Bressanone, Italy (formerly Austria). What other major writer’s child has a life story that intersects at all points with both international geopolitics and her father’s boundary-crossing, world-making poetry and poetics; with the after-effects of one world war and the lived experience of another; with the hidden causes and devastating effects of Italian and Allied spy networks, including Hoover’s FBI, whose abuse of the law came to daylight in the Watergate investigation; with the contending by lawyers, scholars, and libraries over a valuable international literary estate? Let the Wind Speak casts new light on Ezra Pound’s controversial yet indispensable life and work through the lens of his daughter’s life, full of twists, turns, surprises, and mysteries, some of them still unsolved. As a portrait of Mary de Rachewiltz, it captures a moving image of its courageous subject—an eloquent poet, writer, and translator in her own right—as she navigates formidable familial, political, literary, and legal terrains over a turbulent century with forbearance, grace, and creative love."
—Christine Froula, Northwestern University
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781512823257 |
| PRICE | $39.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 376 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 492564
I was looking for ward to reading this, but unfortunately the author has no methodology to speak of, and the book is rather a mess. There's a lot of speculation, a lot of problems with the authorial distance to the subject (or lack thereof), and a structure that simply doesn't work, jumping around in time but also in ideas, which makes it hard to grasp developments or a linear narrative.
Michelle K, Reviewer
Let the Wind Speak
Mary de Rachewiltz and Ezra Pound
by Carol Shloss
Pub Date 21 Feb 2023
University of Pennsylvania Press
Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult) | Poetry
I am reviewing a copy of Let the Wind Speak through University of Pennsylvania Press and Netgalley.
In Let the Wind Speak Carol Loeb Shloss attempts to create a compelling portrait of a complex relationship of a daughter and her literary-giant father: Ezra Pound and Mary de Rachewiltz, Pound’s child by his long-time mistress, the violinist Olga Rudge. Brought into the world in secret and hidden in the Italian Alps at birth, Mary was raised by German peasant farmers, had Italian identity papers, a German-speaking upbringing, Austrian loyalties common to the area and, perforce, a fascist education.
For years, de Rachewiltz had no idea that Pound and Rudge, the benefactors who would sporadically appear, were her father and mother. Gradually the truth of her parentage was revealed, and with it the knowledge that Dorothy Shakespear, and not Olga, was Pound’s actual wife. Dorothy, in turn, kept her own secrets: while Pound signed the birth certificate of her son, Omar, and claimed legal paternity, he was not the boy’s biological father. Two lies, established at the birth of these children, created a dynamic antagonism that lasted for generations.
Pound maneuvered through it until he was arrested for treason after World War II and shipped back from Italy to the United States, where he was institutionalized rather than imprisoned. As an adult, de Rachewiltz took on the task of claiming a contested heritage and securing her father’s literary legacy in the face of a legal system that failed to recognize her legitimacy. Born on different continents, separated by nationality, related by natural birth, and torn apart by conflict between Italy and America, Mary and Ezra Pound found a way to live out their deep and abiding love for one another.
Though I wanted to love this book, the truth is I struggled through it. There were interesting aspects to the book, but honestly I struggle to get through segments of it.
I give Let the Winds Speak Three out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
Mandy J, Reviewer
It was never going to be easy being Ezra Pound’s child and her unconventional start in life didn’t help. Mary de Rachewilitz was Pound’s daughter by his long-time mistress the violinist Olga Rudge. Hidden way at birth with a foster family in the Italian Alps, she had no idea who her real parents were for many years, even though they visited her on occasion. After such an inauspicious start, it’s not surprising that Mary’s life turned out to be complicated and often troubled, and this compelling and engaging biography tells a fascinating story. Decades of lies, obfuscations and divided loyalties followed, made even more difficult by Pound’s actions during the war, which ultimately led to his imprisonment. How Mary navigated her way through life makes for some compelling reading, and I found this an astonishing chronicle of a remarkable woman. In spite of its rather haphazard structure I was gripped by the book and very much enjoyed this study of complex personalities, families, politics and literary legacy.
