Canadian Archival Inventory S.
1 total work
A novelist with a firmly established reputation, both nationally and internationally, Mordecai Richler has, since the mid-1950s, emerged as one of Canada's most controversial and significant writers, whether in fiction or in non-fiction. His eight novels to date, including the justly famous Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Joshua Then and Now, dramatize the dilemmas of various kinds of dispossessed or ghettoized individuals: the Jew, the artist/intellectual, the expatriate, the hero manque, the political and cultural victim, and his half-dozen or so books of essays convincingly expose and analyze what he sees as the major forces of hypocrisy and dishonesty in our world. Richler is an essential writer for those who would understand the existentialist nature of the isolated individual in today's world, and who appreciate a fictional craft that blends the complementary elements of realism, satire, and humour. With a perceptive introductory essay by Victor Ramraj, The Mordecai Richler Papers provides an indispensable resource for the scholar and general reader alike, for the contents of these papers - manuscript versions, correspondence with editors and publishers, memorabilia of all sorts - allow us to follow and assess the development of this important writer."