Abraham Moses Klein (14 February 1909 – 20 August 1972) was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer and lawyer. He has been called "one of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."

Best known for his poetry, Klein also published one novella entitled The Second Scroll in 1951, along with numerous essays, reviews, and short stories. Many of his lesser-known works, including several unfinished novels, were published posthumously in a series of collections from the University of Toronto Press.

Life

Early life and publications

Klein was born in Ratno, Ukraine, but in 1910 (at age one), he immigrated with his family to Montreal, Quebec, the city in which he would live most of his life. Ratno had seen a series of pogroms and, like many Ukrainian Jews, Klein's parents sought a safer life elsewhere. As a result of the influx of Jewish immigrants to Montreal, its Jewish community flourished, even though many families lived close to the poverty line. The family of Irving Layton was another notable addition to this community. Klein's father, a devout Orthodox Jew, influenced Klein's early development. The son's early education and literary interests owed much to his plan to become a rabbi when he grew up—a plan he did not fulfill.

Klein attended Baron Byng High School, an institution that would later be immortalized in Mordecai Richler's novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. There he became a friend of David Lewis, future leader of the socialist New Democratic Party. Klein introduced Lewis to his wife, Sophie Carson, when they were all students at Baron Byng. (Lewis later introduced Irving Layton to Klein. He lapsed into the mysterious silence that saw him give up writing altogether and become a recluse in his home in Montreal's Outremont district, until his death in 1972.

Legacy

The Canadian Encyclopedia states that "Klein has rightly been called the 'first contributor of authentic Jewish poetry to the English language.' His writings articulate the feelings of a generation that witnessed the destruction of European Jewry and the fulfillment of the Zionist dream."

Klein was designated a Person of National Historic Significance by the federal government in 2007, and a plaque reflecting that status from the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board was unveiled in Montreal on November 19, 2017. Klein's papers are preserved in the National Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Publications

Published during Klein's lifetime

  • New Provinces: Poems of Various Authors (one of six authors in collection) Toronto: Macmillan, 1936.
  • Hath Not a Jew.... New York, Behrman Jewish Book House, 1940.
  • Poems. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1944.
  • The Hitleriad. Norfolk, CT.: New Directions, 1944.
  • Seven Poems. Montreal: The Author, 1947?.
  • The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1948.
  • The Second Scroll. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1951.

Published posthumously

  • The Collected Poems of A. M. Klein. Toronto; New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1974.
  • Beyond Sambation: Selected Essays and Editorials. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
  • Short Stories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983.
  • Poesie. Roma [Italy]: Bulzoni, 1984.
  • The Second Scroll. Marlboro, VT: Marlboro Press, 1985.
  • Literary Essays and Reviews Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
  • Doctor Dwarf and Other Poems for Children. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1990.
  • Complete Poems. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.
  • Notebooks: Selections From the A. M. Klein Papers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
  • Selected Poems. Seymour Mayne, Zailig Pollock, Usher Caplan, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

<small>Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy of Canadian Poetry Online.</small>

Discography

  • Six Montreal Poets. New York: Folkways Records, 1957. Includes A. J. M. Smith, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, and A. M. Klein. (cassette, 60 mins).

Notes

Further reading

  • Adam Sol, David S. Koffman, Gary Barwin, Michael Greenstein, Ruth Panofsky, Lisa Richter, Emily Robins Sharpe, and Rhea Tregebov, “Canadian Jewish Poetry: A Roundtable”, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes vol. 34: (142-71), 2022.
  • Jesse Toufexis, “‘Westmount’s Sinai’: Projecting a Jewish Landscape onto Montreal through Fiction”, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes vol. 31:148-58, May 2021.
  • Norman Erwin, “The Holocaust, Canadian Jews, and Canada’s ‘Good War’ Against Nazism”, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes vol. 24: 103-123, December 2016.
  • Irving Massey, “On A.M. Klein (Review Essay)”, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes vol. 3: (117-126), January 1995.

References

  • Caplan, Usher. Like One That Dreamed: A Portrait of A. M. Klein. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1982.
  • Hyman, Roger. Aught From Naught: A. M. Klein's 'The Second Scroll. Victoria: English Literary Studies, 1999.
  • Marshall, Tom, ed. A. M. Klein: Critical Views on Canadian Writers. Toronto: Ryerson, 1970.
  • Mayne, Seymour, ed. The A. M. Klein Symposium. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1975.
  • Pollock, Zailig. A. M. Klein: The Story of the Poet. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
  • Smith, Cameron. Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family. Toronto: Summerhill Press, 1989. .
  • Waddington, Miriam. A. M. Klein. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1970.
  • Mayne, Seymour and Rotchin, B. Glen eds. A Rich Garland: Poems for A. M. Klein. Montreal: Véhicule, 1998.
  • Canadian Poetry Online: A. M. Klein - Biography and 6 poems (Out of the Pulver and the Polished Lens, Heirloom, For the Sisters of the Hotel Dieu, Political Meeting, The Mountain, The Elegy)