A. M. Klein
Encyclopedia
Abraham Moses Klein was a Canadian
poet, journalist, novelist, short story
writer, and lawyer. He has been called "One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."
Best known for his poetry
, Klein also published one novella
entitled The Second Scroll
in 1951, along with numerous essay
s, reviews, and short stories. Many of his lesser-known works, including several unfinished novels, were published posthumously in a series of collections from the University of Toronto Press
.
, but in the following years (probably at age three or four) he moved with his family to Montreal
, Quebec
, the city in which he would live most of his life. Ratno had seen a series of pogroms and, like many Ukrainian Jews, Klein's parents sought a safer life elsewhere. As a result of the influx of Jewish immigrants to Montreal, its Jewish community flourished, even though many families lived close to the poverty line. The family of Irving Layton
was another notable addition to this community. Klein's father, an Orthodox
follower of the Jewish faith, influenced Klein's early development. The son's early education and literary interests owed much to his plan to become a rabbi
when he grew up, a plan that he never fulfilled.
Klein attended Baron Byng High School
, an institution that would later be immortalized in Mordecai Richler
's novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
. There he became a friend of David Lewis
, future leader of the socialist New Democratic Party
. Kein introduced Lewis to his wife, Sophie Carson, when they were all students at Baron Byng. (Lewis later introduced Irving Layton
to Klein. Klein became Layton's Latin tutor so he could pass his matriculation exams.)
Klein went on to study political science, classics and economics as an undergraduate at McGill University
. It was there that he met a group of poets and critics, including F.R. Scott and A.J.M. Smith, who would form the foundations of the so-called Montreal Group
of Poets. Klein's first submission of a poem to the Scott and Smith-edited magazine, The McGill Fortnightly Review, was rejected on the basis of its author's refusal to alter the word "soul," which the editors felt was out of step with the modernist
principles they espoused. Klein nevertheless became friends with the elder poets and was soon an avid modernist himself. After the Fortnightly Review folded, Klein and Lewis founded The McGilliad magazine at McGill in 1930.
Klein also came under the influence of Montreal Group
member Leon Edel
, the future Henry James
biographer, who introduced Klein to the works of James Joyce
and other writers. Klein would add Joyce to his list of life-long fascinations, an interest that bore fruit in a complex literary study of Joyce's Ulysses
, published posthumously in the Klein volume Literary Essays and Reviews.
After McGill, Klein studied law at the Université de Montréal
, where instruction was in French. He was a law partner first of Max Garmaise, whom he followed briefly to Rouyn, a small mining development in the North of Quebec. Then, back in Montreal, he joined with Samuel Chait (who was to become first president of the Federated Zionist Organization of Canada, when it was reorganised in 1967). Klein, Garmaise, and Chait had all been officers of Young Judea, a Zionist youth organization.
In spite of his growing literary interests, Klein's early poetry of the 1920s and 1930s was largely concerned with Jewish themes, including the history of Jews in Western society
("Design for Mediaeval Tapestry"), the importance of religion
as a mediating force in modern society ("Heirloom"), and tributes to important figures in Jewish culture ("Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens," about the philosopher Spinoza). Klein published many of these early works in Canadian and American periodicals, although the Great Depression
made it difficult for him to find a publisher willing to accept an entire book. He also published two poems in the 1936 anthology of modernist Canadian poetry, New Provinces
.
Belatedly, in 1940, Klein's first monograph
, Hath Not a Jew, was published in the United States
. Although the book sold poorly, many of its poems would later become standard selections in anthologies of Canadian literature
and posthumous collections of Klein's work.
style reminiscent of Alexander Pope
in such works as The Dunciad
. In it, Klein attempted to satirize Adolf Hitler
and his Nazi cohorts, although later critics often noted that the inescapable bitterness of the subject caused Klein's humorous intentions to run awry.
Klein's greatest achievement as a poet came in 1948 with the publication of The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. The book earned Klein a Governor General's Award
in poetry and sold in numbers far exceeding the norm for a book of Canadian poetry. The success of the book owed much to Klein's new-found focus on domestic Canadian subjects, particularly the culture of French Canada, which Klein, fluent in French and sympathetic to their minority status in North America, understood better than most English-Canadian writers of his day. Along with the oft-anthologized title poem, "The Rocking Chair," a poem that uses the chair in a rural Quebec house as a synecdoche
of French-Canadian heritage, the book included such poems as "Lookout: Mont Royal," "Grain Elevator," and "The Cripples," all of which showed Klein at the height of his creative powers and survived long after as lyrical encapsulations of specific aspects and locations of Montreal. A lengthy elegy
at the end of the book, "Portrait of the Poet as Landscape," reflected Klein's indignation at the general indifference of the Canadian public to its own literature.
Klein's mission to Israel in 1949 on behalf of The Canadian Jewish Chronicle inspired his last major work and only complete novel, The Second Scroll
. Taking cues equally from James Joyce, the Torah
and Talmud
, and the events of recent history, Klein structured his novel as a series of five chapters, from Genesis to Deuteronomy
, each of which corresponds to one of the five books of the Pentateuch. The story's narrator, an unnamed character based loosely on Klein himself, goes in search of his long-lost uncle, Melech Davidson, a Holocaust survivor who drifts to Rome
and then Casablanca
before immigrating to Israel. Just as the narrator is about to catch up to his mercurial uncle, Davidson is murdered by a group of Palestinians, leaving the end of the novel open as to whether Davidson was a martyr
to the Jewish nation or a false Messiah
whose heroic status was inflated by his nephew's eagerness to meet his elusive uncle. Following the main narrative of The Second Scroll is a series of numbered gloss
es that add further commentary to the narrative in the form of poems, a liturgy
, a playlet
, and, most notably, a meditative essay on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo
. Although The Second Scroll was not a commercial success in its first edition from Knopf in New York
, a subsequent re-print in Canada's New Canadian Library
ensured its survival as one of the significant works of modern Canadian literature.
, owner of the Seagram
distillery. He was editor of the Canadian Jewish Chronicle from 1932 until 1955, a periodical to which he also contributed articles on such subjects as the rise of Nazism
in Germany
, the social position of Jews in Canada, and the founding of the state of Israel
in 1948. Klein was a Zionist but his enthusiasm for the new Jewish state was tempered by a critical eye for political realities. This ambivalence toward Israel is best expressed in The Second Scroll, which he wrote after a fact-finding journey to Israel in 1949 and published two years later. Also in 1949, Klein ran unsuccessfully for the Canadian Parliament as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
. Increasing mental illness in the following years led to a suicide attempt and hospitalisation in 1952. In 1956, he was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal
by the Royal Society of Canada
, but by then he had lapsed into the mysterious silence that saw him give up writing altogether and become a recluse
in his home in Montreal's Outremont
district, until his death in 1972.
Fellow Jewish-Montrealer Leonard Cohen
is an admirer who has cited Klein as an influence and has written a couple of poems as well as a song, "To a Teacher," in Klein's memory.
Mordecai Richler
is said to have used Klein as a model for the character L. B. Berger in Solomon Gursky Was Here
(1989).
He is honoured posthumously through the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry
, presented by the Quebec Writers' Federation.
A play inspired by the poems and life of Klein was produced by Tableau D'Hôte Theatre and presented at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montréal in February 2009.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy of Canadian Poetry Online.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
poet, journalist, novelist, short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer, and lawyer. He has been called "One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."
Best known for his poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, Klein also published one novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
entitled The Second Scroll
The Second Scroll
The Second Scroll is a 1951 novel by the Jewish-Canadian writer A. M. Klein. Klein's only novel was written after his pilgrimage to the newly-founded nation of Israel in 1949...
in 1951, along with numerous essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s, reviews, and short stories. Many of his lesser-known works, including several unfinished novels, were published posthumously in a series of collections from the University of Toronto Press
University of Toronto Press
University of Toronto Press is Canada's leading scholarly publisher and one of the largest university presses in North America. Founded in 1901, UTP has published over 6,500 books, with well over 3,500 of these still in print....
.
Early life and publications
Klein was born in Ratno, UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, but in the following years (probably at age three or four) he moved with his family to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, the city in which he would live most of his life. Ratno had seen a series of pogroms and, like many Ukrainian Jews, Klein's parents sought a safer life elsewhere. As a result of the influx of Jewish immigrants to Montreal, its Jewish community flourished, even though many families lived close to the poverty line. The family of Irving Layton
Irving Layton
Irving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies. As T...
was another notable addition to this community. Klein's father, an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
follower of the Jewish faith, influenced Klein's early development. The son's early education and literary interests owed much to his plan to become a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
when he grew up, a plan that he never fulfilled.
Klein attended Baron Byng High School
Baron Byng High School
Baron Byng High School was located at 4251 St. Urbain Street, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was named after the Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, the Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926. Byng was a World War I hero at the battle of Vimy Ridge, an important battle...
, an institution that would later be immortalized in Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
's novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz (book)
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is the fourth novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. It was first published in 1959 by André Deutsch, then adapted to the screen in 1974.-Plot and setting:...
. There he became a friend of David Lewis
David Lewis (politician)
David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...
, future leader of the socialist New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
. Kein introduced Lewis to his wife, Sophie Carson, when they were all students at Baron Byng. (Lewis later introduced Irving Layton
Irving Layton
Irving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made enemies. As T...
to Klein. Klein became Layton's Latin tutor so he could pass his matriculation exams.)
Klein went on to study political science, classics and economics as an undergraduate at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. It was there that he met a group of poets and critics, including F.R. Scott and A.J.M. Smith, who would form the foundations of the so-called Montreal Group
Montreal Group
The Montreal Group was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-1920s at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, which included Leon Edel, John Glassco, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott, and A.J.M. Smith. Most of the group's members attended McGill as undergraduates. Due to this...
of Poets. Klein's first submission of a poem to the Scott and Smith-edited magazine, The McGill Fortnightly Review, was rejected on the basis of its author's refusal to alter the word "soul," which the editors felt was out of step with the modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
principles they espoused. Klein nevertheless became friends with the elder poets and was soon an avid modernist himself. After the Fortnightly Review folded, Klein and Lewis founded The McGilliad magazine at McGill in 1930.
Klein also came under the influence of Montreal Group
Montreal Group
The Montreal Group was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-1920s at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, which included Leon Edel, John Glassco, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott, and A.J.M. Smith. Most of the group's members attended McGill as undergraduates. Due to this...
member Leon Edel
Leon Edel
Joseph Leon Edel was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel....
, the future Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
biographer, who introduced Klein to the works of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
and other writers. Klein would add Joyce to his list of life-long fascinations, an interest that bore fruit in a complex literary study of Joyce's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
, published posthumously in the Klein volume Literary Essays and Reviews.
After McGill, Klein studied law at the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
, where instruction was in French. He was a law partner first of Max Garmaise, whom he followed briefly to Rouyn, a small mining development in the North of Quebec. Then, back in Montreal, he joined with Samuel Chait (who was to become first president of the Federated Zionist Organization of Canada, when it was reorganised in 1967). Klein, Garmaise, and Chait had all been officers of Young Judea, a Zionist youth organization.
In spite of his growing literary interests, Klein's early poetry of the 1920s and 1930s was largely concerned with Jewish themes, including the history of Jews in Western society
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
("Design for Mediaeval Tapestry"), the importance of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
as a mediating force in modern society ("Heirloom"), and tributes to important figures in Jewish culture ("Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens," about the philosopher Spinoza). Klein published many of these early works in Canadian and American periodicals, although the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
made it difficult for him to find a publisher willing to accept an entire book. He also published two poems in the 1936 anthology of modernist Canadian poetry, New Provinces
New Provinces (poetry anthology)
New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors was an anthology of Canadian poetry published in the 1930s, anonymously edited by F.R. Scott assisted by Leo Kennedy and A.J.M. Smith. The first anthology of Canadian modernist poetry, it has been hailed as a "landmark anthology" and a "milestone selection...
.
Belatedly, in 1940, Klein's first monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
, Hath Not a Jew, was published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Although the book sold poorly, many of its poems would later become standard selections in anthologies of Canadian literature
Canadian literature
Canadian literature is literature originating from Canada. Collectively it is often called CanLit. Some criticism of Canadian literature has focused on nationalistic and regional themes, although this is only a small portion of Canadian Literary criticism...
and posthumous collections of Klein's work.
Literary maturity and prominence
During the Second World War, Klein published two more books, Poems and The Hitleriad, both in 1944. Poems developed ideas forecast in Hath Not a Jew but also reflected Klein's anxieties over current events and the plight of Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. Poems such as "Polish Village," "Meditation Upon Survival," and "Elegy" were thoroughly contemporary accounts of persecution and suffering with which Klein, despite his relative safety in Canada, deeply sympathized. The Hitleriad was a very different work, a mock epic written in a satricialSatire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
style reminiscent of Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
in such works as The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
. In it, Klein attempted to satirize Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and his Nazi cohorts, although later critics often noted that the inescapable bitterness of the subject caused Klein's humorous intentions to run awry.
Klein's greatest achievement as a poet came in 1948 with the publication of The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. The book earned Klein a Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
in poetry and sold in numbers far exceeding the norm for a book of Canadian poetry. The success of the book owed much to Klein's new-found focus on domestic Canadian subjects, particularly the culture of French Canada, which Klein, fluent in French and sympathetic to their minority status in North America, understood better than most English-Canadian writers of his day. Along with the oft-anthologized title poem, "The Rocking Chair," a poem that uses the chair in a rural Quebec house as a synecdoche
Synecdoche
Synecdoche , meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech in which a term is used in one of the following ways:* Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing , or...
of French-Canadian heritage, the book included such poems as "Lookout: Mont Royal," "Grain Elevator," and "The Cripples," all of which showed Klein at the height of his creative powers and survived long after as lyrical encapsulations of specific aspects and locations of Montreal. A lengthy elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
at the end of the book, "Portrait of the Poet as Landscape," reflected Klein's indignation at the general indifference of the Canadian public to its own literature.
Klein's mission to Israel in 1949 on behalf of The Canadian Jewish Chronicle inspired his last major work and only complete novel, The Second Scroll
The Second Scroll
The Second Scroll is a 1951 novel by the Jewish-Canadian writer A. M. Klein. Klein's only novel was written after his pilgrimage to the newly-founded nation of Israel in 1949...
. Taking cues equally from James Joyce, the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, and the events of recent history, Klein structured his novel as a series of five chapters, from Genesis to Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
, each of which corresponds to one of the five books of the Pentateuch. The story's narrator, an unnamed character based loosely on Klein himself, goes in search of his long-lost uncle, Melech Davidson, a Holocaust survivor who drifts to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and then Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
before immigrating to Israel. Just as the narrator is about to catch up to his mercurial uncle, Davidson is murdered by a group of Palestinians, leaving the end of the novel open as to whether Davidson was a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
to the Jewish nation or a false Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
whose heroic status was inflated by his nephew's eagerness to meet his elusive uncle. Following the main narrative of The Second Scroll is a series of numbered gloss
Gloss
A gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
es that add further commentary to the narrative in the form of poems, a liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, a playlet
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, and, most notably, a meditative essay on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
. Although The Second Scroll was not a commercial success in its first edition from Knopf in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a subsequent re-print in Canada's New Canadian Library
New Canadian Library
The New Canadian Library is a publishing imprint of the Canadian company McClelland and Stewart. The series aims to present classic works of Canadian literature in paperback. Each work published in the series includes a short essay by another notable Canadian writer, discussing the historical...
ensured its survival as one of the significant works of modern Canadian literature.
Klein as a public figure
Aside from his writing, Klein was also an important member of the Montreal Jewish community during his lifetime. By profession he was a lawyer, and spent many years as a consultant and speech writer for Samuel BronfmanSamuel Bronfman
Samuel Bronfman, was a Canadian business magnate and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Jewish family dynasty, the Bronfman family.-Early life:...
, owner of the Seagram
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...
distillery. He was editor of the Canadian Jewish Chronicle from 1932 until 1955, a periodical to which he also contributed articles on such subjects as the rise of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the social position of Jews in Canada, and the founding of the state of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1948. Klein was a Zionist but his enthusiasm for the new Jewish state was tempered by a critical eye for political realities. This ambivalence toward Israel is best expressed in The Second Scroll, which he wrote after a fact-finding journey to Israel in 1949 and published two years later. Also in 1949, Klein ran unsuccessfully for the Canadian Parliament as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
. Increasing mental illness in the following years led to a suicide attempt and hospitalisation in 1952. In 1956, he was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal
Lorne Pierce Medal
The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French...
by the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
, but by then he had lapsed into the mysterious silence that saw him give up writing altogether and become a recluse
Recluse
A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society, often close to nature. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester." There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse: a personal philosophy that rejects consumer society; a...
in his home in Montreal's Outremont
Outremont
Outremont may refer to:*Outremont, Quebec - a borough and former town in Montreal*Outremont - a Canadian federal electoral district*Outremont - a Quebec provincial electoral district...
district, until his death in 1972.
Legacy
The Canadian Encyclopedia states that "Klein has rightly been called the 'first contributor of authentic Jewish poetry to the English language.' His writings articulate the feelings of a generation that witnessed the destruction of European Jewry and the fulfilment of the Zionist dream."Fellow Jewish-Montrealer Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
is an admirer who has cited Klein as an influence and has written a couple of poems as well as a song, "To a Teacher," in Klein's memory.
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
is said to have used Klein as a model for the character L. B. Berger in Solomon Gursky Was Here
Solomon Gursky Was Here
Solomon Gursky Was Here is a novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler first published by Viking Canada in 1989.-Summary:The novel tells of several generations of the fictional Gursky family, who are connected to several disparate events in the history of Canada, including the Franklin Expedition...
(1989).
He is honoured posthumously through the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry
Quebec Writers' Federation Awards
The Quebec Writers' Federation Awards are a series of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Quebec Writers' Federation to the best works of literature in English by writers from Quebec.-Categories:...
, presented by the Quebec Writers' Federation.
A play inspired by the poems and life of Klein was produced by Tableau D'Hôte Theatre and presented at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montréal in February 2009.
Published during Klein's lifetime
- New Provinces: Poems of Various AuthorsNew Provinces (poetry anthology)New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors was an anthology of Canadian poetry published in the 1930s, anonymously edited by F.R. Scott assisted by Leo Kennedy and A.J.M. Smith. The first anthology of Canadian modernist poetry, it has been hailed as a "landmark anthology" and a "milestone selection...
(one of six authors in collection) Toronto: Macmillan, 19361936 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* James Laughlin founds New Directions Publishers in New York, which published many modern poets for the first time;...
. - Hath Not a Jew.... New York, Behrman Jewish Book House, 19401940 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* English poet and writer Aldous Huxley is a screenwriter for the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice...
. - Poems. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 19441944 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The first and second lines of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne were broadcast by the Allies over Radio Londres this year as a message in code to the...
. The Modern Jewish experience. New York: Arno Press, 1975. - The Hitleriad. Norfolk, CT.: New Directions, 19441944 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The first and second lines of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne were broadcast by the Allies over Radio Londres this year as a message in code to the...
. - Seven poems. Montreal, The author, 1947?.
- The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. Toronto: Ryerson Press, (19481948 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Sometime this year, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase Beat Generation to describe his friends and as a general term describing the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York at that...
). - The Second ScrollThe Second ScrollThe Second Scroll is a 1951 novel by the Jewish-Canadian writer A. M. Klein. Klein's only novel was written after his pilgrimage to the newly-founded nation of Israel in 1949...
New York: A.A. Knopf, 1951. (novel) critical edition, 2000)
Published posthumously
- The Collected Poems of A.M. Klein. Toronto; New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 19741974 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman....
. - Beyond Sambation: Selected Essays and Editorials. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
- Short Stories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983.
- Poesie. Roma [Italy]: Bulzoni, 1984.
- The Second Scroll. Marlboro, VT: Marlboro Press, 1985.
- Literary Essays and Reviews Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
- Doctor Dwarf and Other Poems for Children. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 19901990 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Allen Ginsberg crowned "Majelis King" in Prague on May Day...
. - Complete Poems. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 19901990 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Allen Ginsberg crowned "Majelis King" in Prague on May Day...
. - Notebooks: Selections From the A.M. Klein Papers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
- Selected Poems Seymour Mayne, Zailig Pollock, Usher Caplan ed. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 19971997 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*January 20 — Miller Williams of Arkansas reads his poem, "Of History and Hope," at President Clinton's inauguration....
. ISBN 0802007341 ISBN 0802007536
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy of Canadian Poetry Online.
Discography
- Six Montreal Poets. New York: Folkways Records, 1957. Includes A.J.M. Smith, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, F.R. Scott, Louis Dudek, and A.M. Klein. (cassett, 60 mins).
External links
- Canadian Poetry Online: A.M. Klein - Biography and 6 poems (Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens, Heirloom, For the Sisters of the Hotel Dieu, Political Meeting, The Mountain, The Elegy)
- A. M. Klein's entry in The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...