Crossing the divide between East and West, ancient and modern: An interdisciplinary study of the Chinese characters in Ezra Pound's 'The Cantos'

This dissertation will argue that Pound's Chinese transliteration reflects a deep understanding of the Chinese language and that his intellectual, cultural, and linguistic empathy with the far and remote Chinese sign system is impossible without the accessibility of the Chinese written signs that are visual and organic. Pound's transcultural or translingual practice demonstrates that he does have a bridge of signs that can lead him in crossing the distance between East and West, ancient and modern. This dissertation consists of two parts. Part One gives an overview of the Chinese language and culture, reveals the organic nature of Chinese characters and its connection to Pound's poetics, and analyzes the functions of the Chinese characters in The Cantos. A mini-dictionary of all the Chinese characters in The Cantos in the order of their appearance, Part Two offers a detailed account of those characters' shapes, sounds, and meanings. As a whole, this dissertation will provide insights into Pound's creative use of Chinese signs with the instincts of a keen cultural observer and preserver. His understanding of the signs and symbols in Chinese characters led him away from his initial vision of its aesthetics as a remedy for the inert Victorian verse and into a liminal realm where the collective unconscious of a silenced culture meets the new and dominant societal and cultural logic.