The 7th EPIRG benefitted from Roxana Preda’s send-out via the EPS mailing list, and we welcomed a number of new attendees, as well as, from Ben and Mike’s organising, Prof. Walter Baumann as a special guest with his own reminiscenes on Sheri Martinelli.
Ben starts his presentation with some biographical info about Sheri Martinelli and a dateline of her relationship with EP: 1952, they meet; 1956, Vanni Scheiwiller publishes La Martinelli begrudgingly (removing the publisher’s info from the book), with a foreword by EP focusing on the “unstillness” of her art and on SM’s ability to manifest in paint or clay the most important features of EP’s poetry; 1958, with EP being released from St. Elizabeths, Pound breaks off the relationship, Martinelli goes to Mexico while Marcella Spann accompanies Pound to Italy.
The focus switches to Section: Rock-Drill (85-95). Touching upon SM’s commentary of EP’s Canto 90 (EP as Merlin), Ben proceeds with a full whirling reading of 90. Then he analyzes the canto focusing on its sexual & feminine features with special regard to SM and her divine aliases, such as “Castalia”, “Kuthera”, “Sibylla”, “Isis Kuanon,” and “mermaid.” Ben expands the list of EP’s senhals for SM in the following cantos: 91 (“Reina”, “Undine”); 92 (“farfalla in tempesta”), 93 (“Ondine”, “Creatrix”, “Ursula Benedetta”, “Flora Castalia”, “my Love”), 94 (“blue jay”, “fuss-cat”) & 95 (“Leucothæ”).
Ben gives us some instances of Sheri’s art, showing some pictures of her works on The Cantos (the leaves embellishment of Canto 90) and some of her portraits of Pound, plus a letter from EP to SM (6 May 1958) in which he calls her “Her Highness the Martinelli.” One of Martinelli’s favoured mediums is the book itself, Ben showing us also the title-page to Sheri’s copy of Rock-Drill covered in a pencil portrait of Undine.
The relationship between Pound and Martinelli ends after Pound’s release from St. Elizabeths, and that is revealed in “Thrones”: in Canto 97, SM. is implicitly referred to as a “dope-doll;” in 98 she is “Leucothea” associated with “drugs;” in 102 is again “Leucothoe” associated with “incense;” in 104 she is called “Pitonessa.” However, in Drafts & Fragments: Canto 111 she is once again a “mermaid” and in one of the fragments which did not make it for publication EP writes, “Sheri has seen it,” referring to some divine truth. Martinelli, Ben points out, is never named in The Cantos, and in connection to this, he speaks of a “private and idiosyncratic language that Pound & Martinelli shared.”
Ben shows the program of the first American exhibition of Sheri Martinelli’s works (among them, various portraits of EP), organised (?) by Peter Bennett, who further organised an exhibition of her works at Essex, EPIC 13, 1989 at which a number of works were sold.
Ben ends the presentation comparing the importance of Martinelli to Gaudier Brzeska on Pound’s work, and reads a poem from Martinelli for Pound’s 90th birthday.
Professor Walter Baumann follows with his personal reminiscences on Sheri Martinelli, presenting one of her portraits of Pound, EIKONE, that he purchased via Peter Bennett in Essex 1989, and a photograph he took of Marcella Spann, (Richard Taylor?), Sheri Martinelli and Mary de Rachewiltz in America, for which Martinelli wrote to Professor Baumann “how ja do it” complimenting him on the making of history in a photograph, signing “Sheri / (La Martinelli) / ‘EP’s last protégé’”.
Discussion opens. Louis contrasts Martinelli’s use of drugs to Pound’s high-wired, hallucinogenic, but naturally rising mind, and queries the group with his own feeling of the “artificiality” of the paradise of 90-95. Tyler takes the prompt, and by comparing the Pisan Cantos suggests that Pound self-consciously constructs his paradise through direct references to previous sections of the poem, and that is why it can be sensed as artificial. Professor Baumann speaks, “We mustn’t forget that it is a paradiso terrestre after all.” Jeff adds that one of the main problems is that “Pound’s paradiso is full of non-paradiso stuff”, and that’s “curious” for it seems to be the antithesis of a paradiso; regards the artificial construction of EP’s paradiso, he says, “Everything is reworked for the purposes of the poem.” Professor Baumann hints at the fact that Brunnenburg was initially thought to be paradise by EP, but then the number of the women in his life being there all together turned it into a hell for him.
Ben develops the earlier point on naming, pointing out that Marcella Spann and Eva Hesse are explicitly named in The Cantos, and that Sheri, Dorothy, and Olga aren’t. He continues reflecting on the fact that 79 was written for Dorothy as 90 was written for Sheri (Sheri & Dorothy, save for their own intimacies in Washington, were both painters), and sharply concludes that the problem with the late cantos is how to reconcile the ‘public’ with the ‘intimate and personal’, for the matter is too private for the outsider. Walter Baumann tells us of what Dorothy suggested she could have said about Sheri in the 50’s but didn’t, and his conversation with Omar and his widow who couldn’t enlighten further, mentioning DP’s resting place in Cambridge & suggesting, subtly, that she’d taken it to the grave.
Anderson quotes from the end of Canto 90 (“Not love but … flowing from it”) to suggest that Sheri functions as a kind of conduit rather than a real individual––metaphysical love requires a constant sacrifice—opening a conversation on Pound’s love-idols. Mike expands on Pound’s projection onto the women in his life. Louis presents a dualistic perception of troubadour mythology: on the one hand, the woman is idolised — taken to near sarcastic extremes in de Born’s donna ideale and Aldington’s Dream in the Luxembourg for puppy-man beneath Dompna (o Deus); the other being a quite carnal and real love-making which Pound is very aware of in “Psychology and the Troubadours”. To which Anderson adds that EP is necessarily involved in a succession of female figures. Starting from here, Pietro points out the various similarities between Canto 90 and EP’s early poetry (“A Lume Spento”): trees especially, ash-tree, elm, Ygdrasail––“La Fraisne;” Baucis & Philemon––“The Tree;” but also woodland and fauns––“La Fraisne” again; “ascending,” “enkindled”––“Prometheus;” Neoplatonic instances––“Plotinus;” Egyptian mythology––“Aegupton.”
Jeff raises Martinelli’s interest for hieroglyphics in her letters (shown by Ben during his presentation) and asks if hieroglyphics in The Cantos, which appear first in Canto 90, were on account of Pound’s relationship with Martinelli, or related to Igor [brother of Boris de Rachewiltz] or otherwise. Do we have a clear answer? John says the earliest hieroglyphs are Martinelli’s, we discuss the barge, and compare to her portrait “Isis-Kuanon”. Walter suggests BdR may have had a role, further referring to the earlier interview with DP and Hugh Kenner on what DP could have said about Canto 90.
Margaret Fisher tells us of Pound’s gifting Sheri the original score to Le Testament, edited by Antheil, which went missing for sometime, that Pound did not even know where it had gotten to: turning out that Sheri had sent it to the Library of Congress asking them to make a microfilm of it, and that they did and returned the score to her. She had an archival insight of EP’s work, and showed at times to bookseller’s offering Pound’s letters and works for sale. Ben makes some final considerations on the strong connection between good mind and virile body, the tactile vision of EP’s poetry and the musical dimension of SM’s voice.