The passionately held views of A.M. Klein are focused in these essays on literature and the arts. Ranging from the formally theoretical to the intensely personal, they reflect the enthusiasm and the conviction characteristic of all Klein's writing.Among the subjects that come under the critic's unblinking eye are various genres of Jewish literature, illuminating not only on their own terms but also for what they reveal about Klein's Jewish poems. There are also essays on Canadian, ...

The broad range of A.M. Klein’s interests, ideas, and activities is reflected in this selection of articles, editorials, and reviews – a selection that also displays the qualities that distinguished all his creative writing and the highly idiosyncratic nature of his style.The writings in this volume span a most critical juncture in human affairs; a period that witnessed the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Nazism, and communism, the Second World War, and the emergence of the ...

Throughout his career A.M. Klein struggled to define for himself the role of the poet in the contemporary world. Deeply rooted in the traditions of Judaism, and at the same time powerfully attracted by the freedom and scope of international modernism, he sought to reconcile past and present, community and creative individuality. Whether or not he finally achieved his own high aims, it was, in his own words, 'something merely to entertain them.' The result was a body of work immensely rich ...

Much of A.M. Klein's finest prose is to be found in the mass of uncompleted work that he abandoned at the time of his breakdown, and that became accessible only when his papers were deposited in the National Archives. Notebooks offers a generous selection of this work, revealing previously unsuspected facets of Klein's character and artistry.The fiction, criticism, and memoirs collected here focus on Klein's exploration of the role of the artist. The works illuminate crucial period...

Ten years, ten authors, ten critics. The Canadian Literature Centre/Centre de littérature canadienne reaches into its ten-year archive of Brown Bag Lunch readings to sample some of the most diverse and powerful voices in contemporary Canadian literature. This anthology offers readers samples from some of Canada’s most exciting writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Each selection is introduced by a brief essay, serving as a point of entry into the writer’s work. From the east coast of...

The original At the Mermaid Inn, one of the most notable literary endeavours in Canada, was the result of the combined efforts of three poets: Wilfred Campbell (1858-1918), Archibald Lampman (1861-99), and Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947).A Saturday column that ran in the Toronto Globe from 6 February 1892 until 1 July 1893, it covered a wide range of material – original poetry and prose, book and music reviews, articles on philosophy, politics, poetics, religion...

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) is one of Germany's greatest writers. His agile mind and brilliant wit expressed themselves in lyrical and satirical poetry, travel writing, fiction, and essays on literature, art, politics, philosophy and history. He was a biting satirist, and a perceptive commentator on the world around him. One of his admirers, Friedrich Nietzsche, said of him: 'he possessed that divine malice without which perfection, for me, is unimaginable.' Heine was conscious of living af...

This volume established Isabella Valancy Crawford as one of Canada's principal poets. Coupled with an introductory collage of viewpoints and reactions to her work by James Reaney its provides a vivid glimpse into the literary past of this country.Although her poetry reflects the patterns of her time, Isabella Valancy Crawford was able to accept the raw and vigorous Canadian landscape on its own terms. She was the first of our poets for whom it became the setting for struggle, passi...

Winner of the 2007 B.C. Award for Canadian Non-fictionA Globe and Mail Best 100 Book (2006)National Post Best Books (2006)A bold cultural portrait of contemporary Canada through the work of its most celebrated novelists, short story writers, and storytellers.Stories are the surest way to know a place, and at a time when the fabric of the country seems daily more uncertain, Noah Richler looks to our authors fo...

A captivating collection of Friedrich Nietzsche’s seminal works, from his provocative musings on truth and morality to his profound exploration of human existence“In this volume, one may very conveniently have a rich review of one of the most sensitive, passionate, and misunderstood writers in Western, or any, literature.”—Newsweek“Few writers in any age were so full of ideas.”—Walter Kaufmann, from the Introduction

A Holocaust survivor's surprising and thought-provoking study of forgiveness, justice, compassion, and human responsibility, featuring contributions from the Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Cynthia Ozick, Primo Levi, and more.You are a prisoner in a concentration camp. A dying Nazi soldier asks for your forgiveness. What would you do?While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside ...