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

283 Olga Triumphant
Christmas Day with Archbishop Arndt and his wife, who always ‘‘make
one feel welcome, though he doesn’t remember names’’ (she was reminded
of Homer Pound, who filed names away in his ‘‘forgettery’’).
The Lawrence Gays, her hosts in San Francisco, were the first to call on
New Year’s Day. Larry knew someone close to the Ministro della Giustizia
in Rome, and wanted to help Boris. But first he needed more information
about the accusation and date of arrest. Olga, who had not heard from
Mary since Christmas, telephoned Brunnenburg to ask. For the first time,
she heard the news: ‘‘Boris is out! He was there for Christmas!’’ She was
angered at Mary’s rudeness in not letting her know. The next day’s post
brought photos of the family around the Christmas tree with the three
great-grandsons, and of Mary and Boris’s thirty-first wedding anniversary,
from which she had been excluded, rubbing salt in old wounds.
She was honored at another celebration of the centenary of Pound’s
birth, a Pommeriggio per Ezra Pound, on February 2. Valerie Eliot, Giuseppe
Santomaso, and her daughter Mary were among the participants in
the convegno held in the theater some thirty meters from the Piazza di
Spagna. Olga presented her slide lecture, ‘‘The Last Ten Years,’’ to another
distinguished audience, including Indro Montanelli, director of Il
Giornale, Milan’s leading newspaper.
She was called upon to assemble Pound memorabilia and photos for
another young broadcaster from Radiotelevisione Italiana, who came to
interview Ezra’s ‘‘companion’’ in the centenary year. At ninety, Olga was
gaining recognition in her own right as a Venetian celebrity. Graham
Thayer, executive producer of the BBC, arrived without warning. At her
birthday reception at the Gritti Palace, she was surrounded by journalists
‘‘who would like to get a photograph or two on the terrace before the sun
goes down.’’
A high point of the year—and of Olga’s life—was a ceremony June 9 in
the Campidoglio in Rome. ‘‘I am to be given an award, i.e., me!’’ she noted
with astonishment. This modest woman from Ohio made her way from
the Via del Teatro di Marcello up the wisteria-decked cordonata past the
two majestic statues of Castor and Pollux to the piazza designed by Michelangelo
for Charles V’s triumphal entry. At the Palazzo Senatorio (Rome’s
Town Hall), she was awarded the prestigious Adelaide Ristori Prize for