Jacob Isaac Segal - (Canadian Studies) by Pierre Anctil (Paperback)

About the Book

Celebrated Montreal writer Jacob Isaac Segal (1896-1954) paved the way for a major literary movement in the North American Jewish diaspora. In tracing the poet's literary trajectory, this book demonstrates that it reflects the history of the Jewish immigrants to North America at the beginning of the 20th century.

Book Synopsis

Born in the Ukraine in 1896, and settling in Montreal in 1910, Segal became one of the first Yiddish writers in Canada. His poetry, infused with lyricism and mysticism, along with the numerous essays and articles he penned, embodied both a rich literary tradition and the modernism of his day.

Pierre Anctil has written so much more than a biography. For the first time, Segal's poetic production is referenced, translated and rigorously analyzed, and includes over 100 pages of appendices, shedding light on the artistic, spiritual, cultural and historical importance of his oeuvre. By introducing the reader to the poet's work through previously unpublished translations, Anctil demonstrates that in many respects it reflects the history of the Jewish immigrants who arrived in North America from Russia, the Ukraine and Poland at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the tragic experiences of Jewish intellectual refugees of the interwar period.

This admirably written, sweeping yet subtle, work will appeal both to scholars and to a broader audience.

Review Quotes

As Canada's most renowned Yiddish poet and a celebrated figure in Jewish letters, a full-length study of J.I. Segal is long overdue.... This is the first monograph to appear that focuses specifically on Segal. ... A significant contribution to our knowledge of Segal's life and writing... the extensive primary source material offered by this encyclopedic work will be of great value to those who seek to undertake a scholarly analysis that situates Segal within the wider context of Yiddish letters in Canada as well as internationally.

Rebecca Margolis, "Uncovering a Poet," Canadian Literature, Winter 2013, p. 131-132

"According to Anctil Segal was the first poet in Quebec to embrace modern urbanity in his work. Consequently, he choses to focus on Segal's Montréalité, both the lens through which the poet's modernity is reflected and the repository of longing for the idealized innocence of the shietl. However, Segal also 'appropriates' Montreal by Yiddishizing it...This book is sure to resonate deeply with readers partly because the fragile memory of Segal, the reverred forgotten poet, is reminiscent of the fate of Yiddish culture itself....This intimate, compelling and scholarly collective portrait is essential for anyone interested in the inner life of the Jewish community, and in the immigrant experience in Montreal."

Eve Lerner, "Book Review

Compte rendu", CIS

EJC

About the Author

Pierre Anctil is an award-winning author, a member of the Royal Society of Canada since 2012 and a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, where he taught contemporary Canadian history and Canadian Jewish history. He has written at length on the history of Montreal's Jewish community and on the current debates on cultural pluralism in Canada.
His most recent English-language titles are History of the Jews in Quebec (2021), Jacob Isaac Segal: A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu (2017) and A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir's Editorials, 1910-1947 (2019), all at the University of Ottawa Press.