Ezra Pound e Joseph Brodsky

To be buried here is a signal honor, and no one can deny Pound’s influence on twentieth-century poetry. But this is a case in which the very condition of the two gravestones indicates a moral and artistic hierarchy. Pound, with his obsession with the strong man of action and manly virtù, now represents the authoritarian vision, lately manifested by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, whose political and economic shadow continues its ascent over Europe. Contrarily, Brodsky, the dissident Russian, concerned with universalism and the personal life of the individual, represents a Europe of sovereign, mutually respectful nations, and the rule of law over arbitrary fiat. Here in this Venetian cemetery, two iconic forces stand a few feet apart from each other. Here are the two paths that Europe can tread. May it choose the right one. Robert D. Kaplan, New Criterion

Robert D. Kaplan is the author of Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age, to be published in April by Random House. He holds the Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Mi sembrava doveroso, questa settimana, partecipare in qualche modo al dramma dell'invasione dell'Ucraina da parte della Russia. Ho scelto questo bell'articolo che contrappone due poeti sepolti accanto a Venezia, due visioni del mondo opposte.