ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

FOR THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH ON THE SCIENCE
OF LANGUAGE

ASSESSORS

PROF. A. AMES
PROF. H. L. BROSE
PROF. W. E. COLLINSON
F. G. CROOKSHANK, M.D., F.R.C.P.
PROF. P. SARGANT FLORENCE
PROF. H. MUNRO FOX
PROF. D. FRASER-HARRIS
DR. HU SHIH
DR. R. M. HUTCHINS
PROF. H. LEVY
ETHEL JOHN LINDGREN
PROF. A. LLOYD JAMES
PROF. BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI
DENN. M. MARSTON
PARKER SIR PERCY NUNN
PROF. Y. OKAKURA
DR. I. A. RICHARDS
SIR JOSIAH STAMP
VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON
PROF. W. MORTON WHEELER

THE INFLUENCE OF
LANGUAGE ON THOUGHT

SYMBOLIC PRINCIPLES

IN LAW
EDUCATION
MEDICINE
AESTHETICS
ECONOMICS
EPISTEMOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY

WORD MAGIC

IN PHILOSOPHY
PISTICS
POLITICS

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLISM
PRINCIPLES OF NOTATION
THEORY OF DEFINITION
PANOPTIC CONJUGATION
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

PUBLICATIONS:

Psyche (Annual)
Jeremy Bentham, 1832-2032
Basic English
The Basic Words
The Basic Dictionary
The Basic Vocabulary
The ABC of Basic English
Basic English Applied (Science)
Basic for Economics
Basic for Business
Brighter Basic
Basic by Examples
The Basic Traveller
Carl and Anna (in Basic)
The Gold Insect (in Basic)
International Talks (in Basic)
Julius Caesar (in Basic)
Japanese Stories (in Basic)
Deblabelization
Opposition
Word Economy
Symbolic Distance

The Basic Records
The Panopticon

NEW YORK
One Madison Avenue
(Room 371)

LONDON
58, Frith Street
Cambridge, W.1.

12-15 DARTMOUTH ST.
WESTMINSTER, S.W.1.

Director
C. K. OGDEN
Assistant Director
L. W. LOCKHART

All communications to

THE SECRETARY
10, KING'S PARADE,
CAMBRIDGE, ENG.

January 25, 1935.

Dear Mr. Pound,

Yours of January 21 and 22. Am looking
forward to your <u>N.E.W.</u> material.

Grouping of operation forms is dependent
on purpose. In other places they are grouped
differently; from pointing level, up.

For special uses ('idioms'), see <u>Basic English</u>, page 94. Two years work on the 250 numbered in the <u>ABC</u> is frequently overlooked by men of letters, because that book (unhappily out of print till February 15) is designed chiefly for learners.

Richards is not much use for current
exchanges, but his <u>Basic in Teaching: East and West</u>
goes to the printer this week. I send his <u>Basic</u>

- 2 -

**Rules of Reason** - see **Psyche**, page 189, which goes with it. Eliot still has religion; but see.

What is your trouble about Lévy-Bruhl and others? The points are probably covered somewhere, if you will say what they are. The International Library is the back-cloth for the general picture. What special interest has Frobenius, and I'll see what has been said in **Psyche**, 1922-33?

Have a heart about purpose of certain small books! We have to get past the minds on **Psyche**, pages 202-224, no less than Curdjeff.

Did you see **Anna Livia** in Basic (with notes)?

Yours (in Basic)

C. K. OGDEN.

ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

ASSESSORS

PROF. A. AMES
PROF. H. L. BROSE
F. G. CROOKSHANK, M.D., F.R.C.P.
PROF. P. SARGANT FLORENCE
PROF. H. MUNRO FOX
DR. HU SHIH
PROF. H. LEVY
ETHEL JOHN LINDGREN
A. LLOYD JAMES
PROF BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI
DR. M. MARSTON
PROF SIR PERCY NUNN
PROF. Y. OKAKURA
DR. I. A. RICHARDS
SIR JOSIAH STAMP
VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON
PROF. W. MORTON WHEELER

SYMBOLIC PRINCIPLES
IN LAW
MEDICINE
EDUCATION
AESTHETICS
ECONOMICS
EPISTEMOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY

PUBLICATIONS:

Psyche (Annual)
Jeremy Bentham, 1832-2032
Basic English
The Basic Words
The Basic Dictionary
The Basic Vocabulary
The ABC of Basic English
Basic English Applied (Science)
Brighter Basic
Basic by Examples
The Basic Traveller
Carl and Anna (in Basic)
The Gold Insect (in Basic)
International Talks (in Basic)
Julius Caesar (in Basic)
Japanese Stories (in Basic)
Debarelization
Opposition
Word Economy
Symbolic Distance

The Basic Records

LONDON
58, Frith Street
CAMBRIDGE, CIRCUS
12-15 DARTMOUTH ST.,
WESTMINSTER, S.W.1.

All communications to

THE SECRETARY
10. KING'S PARADE,
CAMBRIDGE, ENG.

February 11, 1935.

Dear Mr. Pound,

I am just back in town with your last three
letters before me.

Many thanks for the Cavalcanti, an impressive
successor to the little volume I enjoyed long ago. It
is a welcome addition to words as uttered, and will find
an honoured place beside Mencius on the Mind (which no
doubt you have seen).

As regards the three 'unknowns':

(i) **Lévy-Bruhl.** It so happens that, so far from
boycotting him, we have been directly responsible for
most of the applications of his work as are known in
England and America. So much so that when his work was
offered in translation I had to pass it on elsewhere as
passé. (Blondel has no significance except as evidence

- 2 -

which I happened to have by me; though he had a diagnostic slant
which Crookshank, in his curious way, once found germane.)

(ii) **Frobenius.** I took the trouble to visit the Hamburg Institute
in 1913; and had an abstract of *Und Africa Sprach* made. They have
twice been considered since 1922 for publication, whole or in
abbreviation; but finally turned down, in spite of their suggestive
lay-out, as (a) too fluffy (b) too unreliable. Later, he got more
systematic and rhetorical on very little more material. As to
drum telegraphs, there is much better material now in the offing
from the newer anthropologists. Apart from this (to watch, on
Witchcraft in general) Evans-Pritchard left last week for
Abyssinia, and Paul Robeson who lives only a few yards from us is
still nostalgic. But interesting though they are, sign-languages
and codes require the separate treatment for which they are
scheduled, and even Morse oddments don't concern Basic very directly!
Still, regardless of Bloomsbury, which is not in our picture, I
await your further justifications or indications without prejudice.

(iii) **Fenollosa.** Yes, I saw his "Chinese Written Character" at
the Yale linguistic Congress in 1933, through some connection of
his relict, Mary (?); but didn't think it was up to the Hu Shih and
Y. R. Chao mark. However, in this field (per Richards, who as you
know was for two years in Peking) we rely on Jameson (at Tsing Hua)
and Victor Purcell, who has just returned to Singapore as
Immigration Officer before sending his Chinese language story to
press; and if you take it so seriously, I will get a copy for their
reactions.

- 3 -

We can't undertake the economic bit (or anything else)
just at present, but when pressure is reduced I will gladly look
into it. Part of it is reasonably clear and Basic already. But
your interpretative alternatives for 'creating real wealth', the
context of 'authoritative' etc. would be desirable. I don't think
you've got *Word Economy* or *Rules of Reason* rightly placed, but as
two or three other related volumes are with the printer (one by
Richards to be ready in March), you'll be able to decide for
yourself. Meanwhile, I await your *N.E.W.* matter with interest.

Re serious characters in England, they're all scientists
these days, such as Hatfield and Bernal, except what runs round
trying to catch up with Carnap mostly off the track, and the likes
of Empson whose poems are due in April. But the latest continental
arrivals are helping to stir things up.

Ezra Pound, Esq.,
via Marsala 12/5,
Rapallo,
Italy.

ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

ASSESSORS

PROF. A. AMES

PROF. H. L. BROSE

PROF. P. SARGANT FLORENCE

PROF. H. MUNRO FOX

DR. HU SHIH

PROF. H. LEVY

ETHEL JOHN LINDGREN

A. LLOYD JAMES

PROF. BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI

DIP. M. MARSTON

PROF. SIR PERCY NUNN

PROF. Y. OKAKURA

DR. I. A. RICHARDS

SIR JOSIAH STAMP

VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON

PROF. W. MORTON WHEELER

SYMBOLIC PRINCIPLES
IN LAW

MEDICINE

EDUCATION

AESTHETICS

ECONOMICS

EPISTEMOLOGY

ARCHAEOLOGY

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLISM

PRINCIPLES OF NOTATION

THEORY OF DEFINITION

PANOPTIC CONJUGATION

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

PUBLICATIONS:

Basic English

The Basic Words

The Basic Dictionary

The Basic Vocabulary

The ABC of Basic English

Brighter Basic

Basic by Examples

The Basic Traveller

Carl and Anna (in Basic)

The Gold Insect (in Basic)

Julius Caesar (in Basic)

Japanese Stories (in Basic)

Debabelization

Opposition

Word Economy

Symbolic Distance

NEW YORK

One Madison Avenue
(Room 371)

LONDON

58, Frith Street

Cambridge, W.1.

12 - 15 DAY'S SOUTH ST.,
WESTMINSTER, W.1.

Director

C. K. OGDEN

Assistant Director

L. W. LOCKHART

All communications to

THE SECRETARY

10. KING'S PARADE,

CAMBRIDGE. ENG.

February 22, 1935.

Dear Mr. Mairet,

Many thanks for your letter of February 14
enclosing the proof of Mr. Pound's article.

I have read it with care and feel that it
presents the case admirably. I feel that any
supplementary remarks required from our end would come
more appropriately in the following, or some subsequent
issue.

In confirmation of my telephone conversation
with your Secretary at 5 p.m. this evening, I send a
marked copy of our little circular in case you see fit
to append the short account of Basic in square
brackets at the end, editorially. This would serve to
explain to readers who do not know, what Basic is.

The only other suggestion would be to put
the title "Basic English" itself in front of the books

The Basic Records

- 2 -

mentioned at the end; and after the titles there given
to add:-

In America: "The System of Basic English" (Harcourt,
Brace).

Our London address is 14 Dartmouth Street,
Westminster, S.W.1. Telephone Victoria 7779.

Philip Mairet, Esq.,
"The New English Weekly",
38 Cursitor Street,
E. C. 4.

C/K/O

Sir :

Have sent off leading article on Debabel/ to New Eng/ Wldy
which hope they will use in earliest available space.

I shd/ like to ginger up their interest in Basic/ and

to use N/E/W/ for the purpose// extending the papers ref/ and

also getting basic into that whole milieu/ , NEW/ key paper

now that it feeds a whole set of Social Credit papers in

the U.S.A.

The continuance of the series will depend on whether

you take it up, you or other *Males* basers.

//

I note a lack of articulation in Lockhart. Word Econ/ p. 24

better GROUP those verbs acc/ their families.

SHOUT

be/able/able

be/seem/ be/ make

come / go

take, have, keep, put, send

live/let

Get/ give

let

say

see

question of purity between see/hear/feel/
smell

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL MARY

not yet clear to me.

get sound, get wind, get smell

O/Kay cheef. feel, dont quite
crawl under " in touch with ", put hand on,

ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

Research Headquarters

10, KING'S PARADE,
CAMBRIDGE,
ENGLAND.

International

PEIPING

5 Sui An Po Hutung

PRAGUE

Spálená ul. 31

(Dr. O. Vočadlo)

Director

C. K. OGDEN

Assistant Director

L. W. LOCKHART

Hon. Secretary

E. C. GRAHAM

All communications to

45 GORDON SQUARE,

LONDON, W.C.1

Telephone: EUSTON 1472

September 24, 1938.

SYMBOLIC PRINCIPLES

IN LAW

EDUCATION

MEDICINE

AESTHETICS

ECONOMICS

EPISTEMOLOGY

ARCHAEOLOGY

WORD MAGIC

IN PHILOSOPHY

PISTICS

POLITICS

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLISM

PRINCIPLES OF NOTATION

THEORY OF DEFINITION

PANOPTIC CONJUGATION

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

PUBLICATIONS:

Psyche (Annual)

The Psyche Monographs

The Psyche Miniatures

Jeremy Bentham, 1832-2032

Basic English

The Basic Words

The Basic Dictionary

The ABC of Basic English

Basic Step by Step

Basic for Science

Basic for Economics

Basic for Business

Basic for Geology

Basic by Pictures

Basic by Isotype

From Pictures to Letters

Basic in Teaching

A Basic Astronomy

Everyday Basic

Brighter Basic

Basic Rules of Reason

Debabelization

Opposition

Word Economy

Statement and Suggestion

Symbolic Distance

International Picture Language

The Basic Records

The Panopticon

Janus

The Seven Picture-Makers

Dear Pound,

On page 27 of your latest, I see that those concerned with "Basic English", "Psyche", etc. "talk of style etc. and don't know it when encountered".

May I have an example or two of this, i.e. where it has been encountered and not known?

And I wonder what you mean by "feeble in concrete illustration" with reference to Basic English. Having devoted so much time to concrete illustration, I can only suppose that both 'style' and 'concrete' are being used in some sense peculiar to yourself. With this I would not quarrel - but I ask for enlightenment in direct relation to your mention of Basic English.

Or has someone been annoying you?

Ezra Pound, Esq.,
Via Marsala 12-5,
Rapallo,
Italy.

ORTHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

Research Headquarters

International

PEIPING

5 Sui An Po Hutung

PRAGUE

Spělená ul. 31

(Dr. O. Vočadlo)

Director

C. K. OGDEN

Assistant Director

L. W. LOCKHART

Hon. Secretary

E. C. GRAHAM

All communications to

45 GORDON SQUARE,

Telephone: EUSTON 1472

LONDON, W.C.I

October 18, 1938.

SYMBOLIC PRINCIPLES

LAW

EDUCATION

MEDICINE

AESTHETICS

ECONOMICS

EPISTEMOLOGY

ARCHAEOLOGY

WORD MAGIC

IN PHILOSOPHY

PISTICS

POLITICS

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLISM

PRINCIPLES OF NOTATION

THEORY OF DEFINITION

PANOPTIC CONJUGATION

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

PUBLICATIONS:

Psyche (Annual)

The Psyche Monographs

The Psyche Miniatures

Jersey Bentham, 1832-2032

Basic English

The Basic Words

The Basic Dictionary

The A BC of Basic English

Basic Step by Step

Basic for Science

Basic for Economics

Basic for Business

Basic for Geology

Basic by Pictures

Basic by Isotype

From Pictures to Letters

Basic in Teaching

A Basic Astronomy

Everyday Basic

Brighter Basic

Basic Rules of Reason

Debarelization

Opposition

Word Economy

Statement and Suggestion

Symbolic Distance

The Basic Records

The Panopticon

Janus

The Seven Picture-Makers

Dear Pound,

I'm sorry to find you **have** been annoyed,
however arbitrarily; but I don't see that you need take
it out on Basic English!

I asked you for your reasons for printing the
statement that Basic English is "feeble in concrete
illustration". You reply:

"Richards is an ape / and I am not going to
take time out to go through yr/ whole series."
Apparently anyone who has read your _ABC_ should have
expected that answer - and a friend of yours is a
witness that I did. But is it an answer?

As to publicity in English, you have never
suggested that you had any use for publicity in other
languages. What languages do you refer to?

What did you expect me to do about what, as
regards Chinese Written Character? I find nothing

- 2 -

concrete about this in any letter you have written, or elsewhere.

Since Richards has been chiefly in China for the last
five years, and I have not seen him for more than a few hours,
or been able to get letters to him for more than 18 months, I
cannot believe the fact that it would be more use to read Homer
(than his works) has as much to do with my specific query as
you suppose. As far as I remember, he was the first to make
that remark, so why not be content to attribute it to him?

I'm glad you don't blame me for brit/art crit. That
is at least something.

But you suppose me to have "students". Why? Has
someone at sixth remove told you that I am at Cambridge, or do
you imagine that lectures are given at the Orthological Institute?
Answer: you don't know and you don't care. But why should a
grown man use silly words, merely because he has heard someone
reading Dante as if it was prose.

Is not this almost as good an example of Kulch as the
suggestion that Hopkins was concerned with <u>metrical</u> experiments?
Where could you get that from, if not by reading his works as
prose? Or do your students continue to confuse metre with
rhythm?

Yours sincerely,

C. K. OGDEN