Translation of: Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954): un poète yiddish de Montréal et son milieu.

Available in print and electronic formats.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-411).

"Celebrated throughout the Yiddish world, Montreal writer Jacob Isaac Segal (1896-1954) paved the way for a literary movement in the North American Jewish diaspora. Pierre Anctil has written so much more than a biography: Segal's poetic oeuvre is annotated, translated, rigorously analyzed, and complemented by a wealth of additional information in extensive appendices. All this serves to shed a bright light on the artistic, spiritual, cultural and historical importance of the Montreal poet's body of work. By introducing the reader to the poet through previously unpublished translations, Anctil reveals how this body of work reflects the history of the Jewish immigrants who arrived in North America from Russia, the Ukraine and Poland in the early 20th century, as well as the tragic experiences of Jewish intellectual refugees during the interwar period.

The original French version was awarded the prestigious Canada Prize in the Humanities (2014) by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

This admirably written, sweeping yet subtle work will appeal to scholars and general readers alike." (Book Jacket)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Translator’s Note

Preface: A Quebec Lyric Poet

Introduction

CHAPTER 1
Arrival in Montreal
Factory Work
First Attempts at Writing
In the Pages of Jewish Daily Eagle
The Revelation of 1917
The Emergence of Yiddish Literature in Montreal
Caiserman in Montreal
The Poale Zion and the Founding of the Canadian Jewish Congress
The Urgent Call of Zionism
The Failed Russian Revolution of 1905
The Beginnings of a Jewish Proletariat in Montreal

CHAPTER 2
Leaving Korets
The Dawn of 1918
Intimist Writing
The Urban Aesthetic
The Canadian Winter
An Exemplary Influence
The Genesis of a Yiddish Poet
The Korets Talmud Torah and Its Nigun
First Literary Influences
Segal’s Maternal Grandfather
The Great Crossing

CHAPTER 3
First Literary Success
Bazunder lider (1921)
The New York Modernist Movement
The Journal Nyuansn
Under the Wing of Mani Leib
Fun mayn shtub un mayn velt (1923)
Lider (1926)
Caiserman, the First Yiddish Literary Critic
The Canadian Landscape
Following the Lead of the French-Canadian Poets
An Emerging Literature

CHAPTER 4
Toward a Golden Age
New Waves of Immigration
The Crash of 1929
Literary Salons and Book Committees
The Sinister Echoes of Nazism
Idishe dikhter in kanade (1934)
Caiserman as Literary Historian
The Poet at His Peak
The Great Mystical Watershed
The Agnostic Poet Before God

CHAPTER 5
The “Years of Lead”: The Holocaust and Its Aftermath
First Indications of Genocide
The End of a World
New Sources of Inspiration
Looking Toward Montreal
A Mystical Leap
A Chorus of Praise
The Contribution of the Holocaust Survivors
The Ravitch Galaxy
The Yiddish Writers Association
Twilight Reflections
The Final Exile

Conclusion

Issued also in electronic formats.

Translated from the French