Description
Ezra Pound’s classic book about the meaning of literature, with a new introduction by Michael Dirda.
This important work, first published in 1934, is a concise statement of Pound’s aesthetic theory. It is a primer for the reader who wants to maintain an active, critical mind and become increasingly sensitive to the beauty and inspiration of the world’s best literature. With characteristic vigor and iconoclasm, Pound illustrates his precepts with exhibits meticulously chosen from the classics, and the concluding “Treatise on Meter” provides an illuminating essay for anyone aspiring to read and write poetry. ABC of Reading displays Pound’s great ability to open new avenues in literature for our time.
Reviews
"Incredibly alive and intelligent and first-rate." — The New York Times
"Full of original and suggestive ideas on the meaning and operation of the poetic art. The comments ring with Pound’s early wit and vigor." — The New Yorker
Also By: Ezra Pound 
Cathay: Centennial Edition
Paperback, 2016
The centennial edition of Ezra Pound's early poetic masterpiece—in a handsome facsimile edition.
New Selected Poems and Translations
Second Edition, Paperback, 2011
The essential collection of Ezra Pound’s poetry—newly expanded and annotated with essays by Richard Sieburth, T. S. Eliot, and John Berryman.
The Pisan Cantos
New Edition, Paperback, 2003
At last, a definitive, paperback edition of Ezra Pound's finest work.
Ezra Pound and James Laughlin: Selected Letters
Hardback, 1994
Ezra Pound and James Laughlin: Selected Letters is a modernist source book - essential reading for anyone interested in tracing the real development of twentieth-century literature.
Gaudier-Brzeska: A Memoir
Paperback, 1974
Also By: Michael Dirda
Red Cavalry
E Book, 2015
"Amazing not only as literature but as biography." —Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Paperback, 2008
Nabokov's first novel in English, one of his greatest and most overlooked, with a new Introduction by Michael Dirda.
Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education
Paperback, 2007
"Michael Dirda may be as close to the ideal critic as we are likely to get."—Annie Proulx
An Open Book: Chapters fom a Reader's Life
Paperback, 2004
"A love story, full of a passion for literature and marked by intellectual vigor."—Bernadette Murphy, Los Angeles Times
Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments
Paperback, 2004
"For some time now, the best book critic in America has been Michael Dirda."—Michael M. Thomas, New York Observer
