Eli Mandel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elias Wolf Mandel December 3, 1922 Estevan,Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Died | September 3, 1992 (aged 69) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Notable awards | Governor General's Award |
| Spouse | Miriam Mandel, Ann Hardy |
| Children | Evie, Charles, Sara |
Eli Mandel (December 3, 1922 – September 3, 1992) was aCanadianpoet, editor of manyCanadian anthologies,[1] and literary academic.
Eli Mandel died in relative obscurity. A series ofstrokes had left him unable to write and, as a result, Mandel had receded from public view long before his death.
He was bornElias Wolf Mandel inEstevan,Saskatchewan, Canada toRussianJewish parents who had emigrated fromUkraine, and grew up theCanadian prairies during theGreat Depression.[2] After a job working for a pharmacist who, landed him a position serving in Canada'sMedical Corps duringWorld War II,[3] it has been said Mandel returned a forever emotionally distraught man who was destined to live the rest of his life without a sense of belonging. This helps explain the alienation that is illustrated throughout his writings.
He studiedEnglish at theUniversity of Saskatchewan attaining aMaster of Arts degree in 1950. He received aPhD from theUniversity of Toronto in 1957.[4]
From 1953 to 1957, Mandel taught at theRoyal Military College Saint-Jean.[5] Later, he taught English andcreative writing at theUniversity of Alberta,University of Victoria, University of Toronto, andYork University.[2] He also taught Canadian studies at theUniversity of Calgary.[6]
Besides his poetry, he wrote other critical works such as his 1969 essay on fellow poetIrving Layton.
He was married to his first wife,Miriam Mandel, for 18 years. The couple had two children, Evie and Charles. In 1967 they divorced and he married Ann Hardy. They had one child, Sara.[7]
Publishing poetry in the early 1950s,[8] Eli Mandel's first significant collection was entitledMinotaur poems (1954), and it appeared in the contact press anthologyTrio (1954).
His poetry was published in 1954 inTrio, an anthology of poems by Mandel,Gael Turnbull, andPhyllis Webb published byRaymond Souster's Contact Press.[9]
His first book wasFuseli poems (1960).[8]
His works seem to have been deeply influenced byWorld War II, especially all the horrors of the Jewishconcentration camps.[8] Despite the lack of direct references to the war untilStony Plain (1973), his work illustrates many grim and morbid images of despair, destruction written with a tone of inescapable pessimism.[8]
Mandel's style was contemplative and intellectual - "an ironic poet, rather than an angry one".[8] The lack of emotion heightens a hopeless outlook, a central feature in all of his writing.[8] His early works appear to have been written for "a scholarly rather than public audience" due to their literary complexity.[8] In his later work, however, starting with the poetry ofBlack and Secret Man (1964), Mandel simplifies thesyntax and uses more colloquial language. While the thoughtful view remained as it was in his earlier work, a wittier tone replaced the previously somber one.
He was also acritic andeditor, producing amonograph on his fellow-poetIrving Layton, and ananthology,Poetry62/Poésie62(1962), which he co-edited withJean-Guy Pilon. Additionally, he championed many otherwise unnoticed newcomers of the 1950s such asAl Purdy,Milton Acorn,D. G. Jones andAlden Nowlan.
Eli Mandel's book, The Family Romance (1986), has been characterized by his quotations from essays onHugh MacLennan andNorthrop Frye’s The Great Code.[10] Both excerpts exemplify Mandel’s questioning of whatever is viewed asorthodoxy. He refuses to let pass what most people simply accept. In this essay collection, it has been recognized that the first piece,Auschwitz and Poetry, is the most powerful and significant and the last of this series of essays,The Border League: American ‘West’ and Canadian ‘Region’, seems to be the least successful.[11]
The compilation of Mandel’s work,The Other Harmony: the Collected Poetry of Eli Mandel, is a two volume collection, with the first including Mandel’s contributions toTrio, as well has his booksFuseli Poems,An Idiot Joy,Stony Plain, and others. It has been acknowledged as the more noteworthy of the two volumes in terms of itsprimary material.[12]
Eli Mandel's literary papers are held by theUniversity of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections.[5]
Mandel won the1968 Governor General's Award forAn Idiot Joy.[13]
In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Canada.[13]
In 1989 he was made an honoraryDoctor of Letters by York University.
