Eli Mandel (December 3, 1922 – September 3, 1992) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, editor of many

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

, and literary academic.

Biography

Eli Mandel died in relative obscurity. A series of strokes had left him unable to write and, as a result, Mandel had receded from public view long before his death. He was born Elias Wolf Mandel in

Estevan Estevan is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Canada to

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents who had emigrated from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and grew up the

Canadian prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

.Sharon Drache, "Mandel, Eli," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton:Hurtig, 1988), 1290. After a job working for a pharmacist who, landed him a position serving in Canada's

Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or staff corps, officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are exam ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

,Kizuk, R. Alexander. "Desert Words: Eli Mandel’s Poetry" http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol49/kizuk.htm 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 studied English at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

attaining a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in 1950. He received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1957.Colin Boyd,
Mandel, Eli
" ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' Web, July 10, 2006. From 1953 to 1957, Mandel taught at the

Royal Military College Saint-Jean The Royal Military College Saint-Jean (), commonly referred to as RMC Saint-Jean and CMR, is a Canadian Military academy, military college and university. It is located on the historical site of Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec), Fort Saint-Jean, in Sai ...

. Later, he taught English and

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, University of Toronto, and

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. He also taught Canadian studies at the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

. Besides his poetry, he wrote other critical works such as his 1969 essay on fellow poet

Irving Layton Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) 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 him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001 ...

. 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. Publishing poetry in the early 1950s, Eli Mandel's first significant collection was entitled ''Minotaur poems'' (1954), and it appeared in the contact press anthology ''Trio'' (1954). His poetry was published in 1954 in ''Trio,'' an anthology of poems by Mandel, Gael Turnbull, and Phyllis Webb published by

Raymond Souster Raymond Holmes Souster (January 15, 1921 – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian poet whose writing career spanned over 70 years. More than 50 volumes of his own poetry were published during his lifetime, and he edited or co-edited a dozen volumes ...

's Contact Press.Phyllis Webb
" Canadian Women Poets, BrockU.ca, Web, Apr. 12, 2011 His first book was ''Fuseli poems'' (1960). His works seem to have been deeply influenced by

, especially all the horrors of the Jewish

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

. Despite the lack of direct references to the war until ''Stony Plain'' (1973), his work illustrates many grim and morbid images of despair, destruction written with a tone of inescapable pessimism. Mandel's style was contemplative and intellectual - "an ironic poet, rather than an angry one". The lack of emotion heightens a hopeless outlook, a central feature in all of his writing. His early works appear to have been written for "a scholarly rather than public audience" due to their literary complexity. In his later work, however, starting with the poetry of ''Black and Secret Man'' (1964), Mandel simplifies the

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

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 a

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, producing a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on his fellow-poet

, and an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

, ''Poetry62/Poésie62''(1962), which he co-edited with

Jean-Guy Pilon Jean-Guy Pilon, (12 November 1930 – 27 April 2021 Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four ...

, Milton Acorn, D. G. Jones and

Alden Nowlan Alden Albert Nowlan (; January 25, 1933 – June 27, 1983) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and playwright. History Alden Nowlan was born into rural poverty in Stanley, Nova Scotia, adjacent to Mosherville, and close to the small town of Windso ...

Critical reception

Eli Mandel's book,'' The Family Romance'' (1986), has been characterized by his quotations from essays on

Hugh MacLennan John Hugh MacLennan (March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award. Family and childhood MacLennan was born in Glace B ...

and

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, ''Fearful Symmetr ...

’s The Great Code. Both excerpts exemplify Mandel’s questioning of whatever is viewed as

orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

. 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. 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 to ''Trio'', as well has his books ''Fuseli Poems'', ''An Idiot Joy'', ''Stony Plain'', and others. It has been acknowledged as the more noteworthy of the two volumes in terms of its

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

material. Eli Mandel's literary papers are held by the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections.

Recognition

Mandel won the 1968 Governor General's Award for ''An Idiot Joy''.Eli Mandel
" Online Guide to Writing in Canada, track0.com, Web, May 1, 2011. In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. In 1989 he was made an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

by York University.

Publications

Poetry

* 1954: ''Trio: First Poems by Gael Turnbull, Phyllis Webb, and Eli Mandel''. Toronto: Contact Press, 1954. * 1960: ''Fuseli Poems'' * ''Black and Secret Man''. (Toronto: Ryerson, 1964) * 1967: ''An Idiot Joy'' (Hurtig) * ''Crusoe: Poems Selected and New'' (Toronto: Anansi, 1973) * 1973: ''Stony Plain'' (Porcepic) * 1977: ''Out Of Place'' (Porcepic) * 1981: ''Life Sentence: Poems and Journals: 1976-1980'' * 2000: ''The Other Harmony: The Collected Poetry of Eli Mandel'', compilation (Canadian Plains Research Centre)

Criticism

* 1966: ''Criticism: The Silent-Speaking Words, Eight Talks for CBC Radio'' (CBC Publications) * 1969: ''Irving Layton'' (Forum House), edited by William French * 1977: ''Another Time'' (Porcepic) * 1986: ''The Family Romance'' (Turnstone)

Other works

* 1981: ''Dreaming Backwards'', compilation of revisions from 1954 to 1981 (General)

Edited

*''Poets of Contemporary Canada,'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart (New Canadian Library).

Discography

* 2001: ''Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD'' Canadian Poetry Association — (CD#2) (with

Dorothy Livesay Dorothy Kathleen May Livesay, (October 12, 1909 – December 29, 1996) was a Canadian poet who twice won the Governor General's Award in the 1940s, and was "senior woman writer in Canada" during the 1970s and 1980s.Mathews, R.D.. "Dorothy L ...

)

References

* Kizuk, R. Alexander. "Desert Words: Eli Mandel’s Poetry" http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol49/kizuk.htm * M. Casey, Diana. "Eli Mandel" Great Neck Publishing * * * Matthews, Lawrence. "The Martian of Estevan". ECW Press Ltd, 2001 * * * * *

Notes

External links

OneZeroZero: Eli Mandel
accessed 10 July 2006
Sask 2005: Eli Mandel profile
accessed 10 July 2006
University of Manitoba collections: Eli Mandel fonds summary
accessed 10 July 2006
Mandel

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

accessed 20 November 2019
"A Little More on Eli Mandel's Greatness
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandel, Eli 1922 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Jewish Canadian poets Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Governor General's Award–winning poets People from Estevan University of Saskatchewan alumni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of York University 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian military personnel of World War II Poets from Ontario Poets from Saskatchewan