Book Review: Let the Wind Speak

 

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!