Eli Mandel

Eli Mandel (December 3, 1922 – September 3, 1992) was a Canadian poet, editor of many Canadian anthologies,^[1] and literary academic.

Biography

Eli Mandel died in relative obscurity. A series of

He was born Elias Wolf Mandel in

From 1953 to 1957, Mandel taught at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean.^[5] Later, he taught English and creative writing at the University of Alberta, University of Victoria, University of Toronto, and York University.^[2] He also taught Canadian studies at the University of Calgary.^[6]

Besides his poetry, he wrote other critical works such as his 1969 essay on fellow poet Irving 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 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's Contact Press.^[9]

His first book was Fuseli poems (1960).^[8]

His works seem to have been deeply influenced by

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 of Black and Secret Man (1964), Mandel simplifies the syntax 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

Eli Mandel's book, The Family Romance (1986), has been characterized by his quotations from essays on Hugh MacLennan and Northrop Frye’s The Great Code.^[10] Both excerpts exemplify Mandel’s questioning of whatever is viewed as orthodoxy. 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 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 material.^[12]

Eli Mandel's literary papers are held by the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections.^[5]

Recognition

Mandel won the 1968 Governor General's Award for An Idiot Joy.^[13]

In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.^[13]

In 1989 he was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by York University.

Publications

Poetry

• 1954: Trio: First Poems by Gael Turnbull, Phyllis Webb, and Eli Mandel. Toronto: Contact Press, 1954.^[9]
• 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)
  ISBN 0-88878-010-9
• 1977: Out Of Place (Porcepic)
  ISBN 0-88878-074-5
• 1981: Life Sentence: Poems and Journals: 1976-1980
• 2000: The Other Harmony: The Collected Poetry of Eli Mandel, compilation (Canadian Plains Research Centre)
  ISBN 0-88977-138-3

• 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)
  ISBN 0-88878-077-X
• 1986: The Family Romance (Turnstone)
  ISBN 0-88801-103-2

• 1981: Dreaming Backwards, compilation of revisions from 1954 to 1981 (General)
  ISBN 0-7736-1091-X

• 2001: Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD
  ISBN 1-55253-031-0 (CD#2) (with Dorothy Livesay
  )

• Canadian literature
• Canadian poetry
• List of Canadian poets

References

• Kizuk, R. Alexander. "Desert Words: Eli Mandel’s Poetry" http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol49/kizuk.htm Archived 2011-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
• M. Casey, Diana. "Eli Mandel" Great Neck Publishing
• Davey, Frank (2001). "Mandel, Eli". In Benson, Eugene; Toye, William (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-541167-6
  .
• Hatch, Ronald B. (1996). "Mandel, Eli(as Wolf)". In Hamilton, Ian (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-280042-8
  .
• Matthews, Lawrence. "The Martian of Estevan". ECW Press Ltd, 2001
• Ravvin, Norman (Winter 1994). "Humanities -- Myth, Origins, Magic: A Study of Form in Eli Mandel's Writing by Andrew Stubbs". University of Toronto Quarterly. 64 (1): 211–213.
  ProQuest 224049675
  .
• Helwig, Maggie (23 May 1987). "'Romance' a record by which poet puts theory into practice". Toronto Star. p. M4.
  ProQuest 435571429
  .
• Fetherling, Douglas (February 1993). "Mandel remembered". Books in Canada. 22 (1): 56.
  ProQuest 215191436
  .
• Querengesser, Neil (Spring 2003). "Opening Words". Canadian Literature (176): 166–167, 205.
  ProQuest 218820989
  .
• Sacuta, Norm (13 September 1992). "Eli Mandel, 1922-1992". Edmonton Journal. p. D6.

Notes