Get to Know the Author a Little Better

septembre 08, 2020

Get to Know the Author a Little Better

(Elisabeth)

Let's start with a little riddle...

Read carefully

He was a Canadian writer born on January 27th, 1931 and passed away when he was 70 years old. Being the son of Lily and Moses Isaac Richler, he grew up in the Mile End area of Montreal. During his teenage years, he learned French, English and Yiddish whilst studying at Baron Byng High School. He then continued his studies by enrolling at Concordia University, which he did not graduate from. His family was very religious, his granddad was Rabbi Yenudah Yudel Rosenberg, a very popular rabbi both celebrated in Poland and Canada mainly because of his religious texts. In 1954, he married a non-Jewish French-Canadian named Catherine Boudreau. A few years later, he left his wife for Florence Mann and had four children named Emma, Jacob, Noah, and Martha.

WHO IS HE?

He is Mordecai Richler.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/richler_hp.jpg

(Gabrielle)

HIS PATHWAY OF BECOMING AN AUTHOR:

Mordecai Richler was a prominent Canadian novelist. He earned a lot of recognition during his career for his controversial subjects, his dark humour and certainly his vulgarism. He used to say, “In a time when there really is no agreement on values…and a collapse of religious values, which certainly created a certain order or standard, you are obliged to work out your own code of honour and system of beliefs and to lead as honorable life as possible. ” And we have to give him a point on that, because, despite all the criticisms claiming he was an “anti-Quebecer” or anti-Semite, Mordecai was bringing new points of view.

He grew up in a Jewish ghetto in Montreal, was raised by an orthodox Jewish family, attended the Jewish Parochial School and was supposed to become a rabbi. His life had already been mapped out, and it may be part of the process that brought him to becoming the author that is known today as the “honest witness” of his time and his place. Evolving in this strict environment, closed to the world and the progress, Mordecai could only associate as a Jew. It is only during his teenage years that he started referring himself to not only a Jew but also a Canadian. Being part of a minority for all his life, being oppressed by traditional beliefs and not having the right to have an opinion sparked in Mordecai a strong desire to be heard and recognized. Combine this strong desire with his flourishing passion for contemporary literature and journalism, you have obtained the perfect mix for a future provocative writer.

http://www.refugeeboulevard.ca/media/refugee_blvd_en.pdf

After Mordecai had realized that he wanted to become a writer, he decided to fly to Europe. He believed it would be a more propitious place to start his career since he perceived Canada at that time as a culturally barren country. Europe appeared to him as a challenging new beginning full of adventures. He stayed there 20 years before coming back and wrote the majority of his work during those years. Yet, all of his works were inspired by his experiences back in Montreal and in each of the characters, he put a little bit of himself. So, even though he spent most of his time challenging the principles at the heart of the Canadian culture, he was still very attached to his roots.

He was just brutally honest. But is it not what we are looking for in a leader? Mordecai was in a way, a leader himself. He questioned traditional moral positions, provoked reflections and forged the Canadian literature that we know today.

IN BRIEF…

(Mathis)

3 SURPRISING FACTS TO REMEMBER:

In 1954, Mordecai married Catherine Boudreau and met on the eve of his wedding Florence Wood, who married one of Mordecai’s close friends, Stanley Mann. Some years later both Mordecai and Florence divorced their spouse and married each other.

In 1992, he published a book where he clearly stated that he was against the Quebec nationalist movement. The book was compared by sovereignists to Mein Kampf, written by Hitler and published in 1925. Richler even received death threats for this book.