Erza Pound at Sirmione: “Here I’m at home”
And he invites James Joyce to join him. The meeting took place100 years ago
In 1920 Ezra Pound stayed in Sirmione at the Hotel Eden.
He was enthusiastic about Sirmione and in a letter he invited James Joyce to join him: “Here I am at home. I don’t know your obligations in Trieste or if you have the health you need for the trip, but I would like you to spend a week here with me (“at my expense”, as my guest, or whatever you say). The place is worth the trip by train. You have the guarantee of Catullus and mine“.
Ezra Pound was fascinated by the blue water of the lake: “I never found anything that was exactly the same height except in the cave of Capri, where the entrance works as a lens and sheds light underwater”.
A few days later, at the beginning of June, he returned to insist with his friend Joyce. He even found “two rooms at the Hotel Pace. It looks clean, it smells good in the kitchen, owner friend of my old friend Menegatti. He offers a pension of 14 lire, or 56 lire a day for you all. I’m thinking of trying it myself if I have to come back here in the future. Telegraph me and I’ll reserve the rooms at the Hotel Pace ”.
Finally James Joyce, who hated to travel, was convinced and on June 8th, 1920, together with his 15-year-old son Giorgio, he arrived by boat in Sirmione, coming from Desenzano where he arrived by train from Trieste..
Leggende del Lago di Garda tells the whole story (in italian only).
JOYCE & POUND 100 ANNI FA A SIRMIONE, an article published by BresciaOggi newspaper (in italian only)
All the suggestions of #I STAY AT HOME but I don’t give up the culture (article in Italian only)
