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Why did The Pisan Cantos receive the Bollingen Prize in 1949?
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Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn, c. 1913.
The Pisan Cantos (1948) were recognized as among the most admired sections of Ezra Pound’s larger work, The Cantos, which led to the collection receiving the Bollingen Prize in 1949.1
While the award recognized the literary achievement of the poems, it sparked significant controversy because Pound was under indictment for treason at the time. During World War II, Pound had made radio broadcasts from Italy that were anti-Semitic and pro-Fascist. The ethical implications of honoring a poet associated with such hateful ideologies caused a public outcry, eventually leading the Library of Congress to disassociate itself from the prize and transfer its administration to Yale University in 1950.2