Book Review: Literary Circles of Washington by Edith Nalle Schafer
In the National Portrait Gallery Bookstore, a find for the sight-seeing literati…
Sure, Washington is a political town, but the District of Columbia has also hosted many amazing American writers and some bizarre moments in America’s literary history.
Ezra Pound, for example, one of the creative forces who shaped twentieth century American poetry, was sympathetic to the fascist powers ruling Italy in the 1930’s and during World War II. While self-exiled in Italy, Pound spoke out against America during the war and was captured by the American military during the occupation of Italy. He was eventually returned to the United States, put on trial for treason and found to be insane. Ezra Pound was kept in the asylum at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital here in the nation’s capital from 1946 to 1958. Schafer records, “The persistence of [Pound’s] literary friends… eventually won his release and he returned to Italy. From the deck of the Cristoforo Colombo in Naples harbor, Pound gave the fascist salute and told Italian reporters, ‘All America is an insane asylum.’”
Edith Schafer’s Literary Circles of Washington is an economically written (seventy-five page) account of Washington DC’s role in the history of American literature. Schafer includes, when possible, the street addresses of the writers and the locations of many noteworthy episodes, including Ezra Pound’s period of institutionalization. Schafer’s work is a fine tourist’s guide to these local markers, such as Katherine Anne Porter’s home in Georgetown, of which she writes, “Here’s a tidbit to ponder at 3106 P Street. There, Elinor Wylie rang the doorbell of her friend Katherine Anne Porter, saying she intended to kill herself and Porter was the only one she wanted to say goodbye to. Porter responded, ‘Well, goodbye, Elinor,’ and closed the door.’”
Schafer tells us that the Willard Hotel has seen such guests as Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Emily Dickinson, while local cemeteries serve as the final resting places for Dashiell Hammett (Arlington), F. Scott Fitzgerald (St. Mary’s in Rockville), and Henry Adams (Rock Creek). Complete with maps and drawings, Literary Circles of Washington is a useful field guide and a nifty volume of anecdotes.
