Olga Rudge & Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..."

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Rare and Unforgettable Little Concerts
1931–1936
‘‘The real artist in the family’’
Back in her world of music, Olga was beginning a flirtation with
Arturo Brown, a possible patron from Argentina by way of London and
Venice, enjoying elegant dinners à deux. The worldwide economic depression
was worsening, and even the wealthy Don Arturo was forced to
give up one valet and refused to pay more than a thousand francs daily—
in the 1930s a considerable sum—for his hotel suite.
Olga was still seeking translation jobs, hoping to get ‘‘something
French, old or new,’’ and that Colette might like it well enough to write a
foreword. Colette seemed ‘‘as if she had known me from birth,’’ Olga said,
when they met at Polignac’s. ‘‘She has lost her money . . . broken her leg,
but still has the air of un chic type.’’
Ezra advised her to stop in to see Caresse Crosby, socialite and patron
of the arts, who had published Pound’s slim volume of Imaginary Letters.
Her Black Sun Press was currently bringing out a posthumous edition of
Harry Crosby’s collected poems, and Ezra agreed to write the introduction
to the fourth volume, The Torchbearers. He had heard they weren’t
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