A Study and Interpretation of the Judaic Allusion in The Second Scroll and The Collected Poems of A.M. Klein : Annotations and Commentary

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
A Study and Interpretation of the Judaic Allusion in The Second Scroll and The Collected Poems of A.M. Klein : Annotations and Commentary
Abstract
The author points out that Montreal poet and novelist A.M. Klein (1909-1972) was an heir to the tradition of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment of the nineteenth century), in particular the school of "Jewish Science.” The school sought to prove, by European standards, that Judaism possesses a creative culture equivalent to that of other nations. The author discusses how Klein was influenced by Montreal intellectuals, disciples of the Haskalah, and ambitiously resolved to create equivalents to the English classics using Jewish subject matter. The author found among Klein's works ballads, nursery rhymes, sonnets, Eliotic poems and a novel in the style of Joyce's Ulysses with overtones of the King James Bible. The Jewish subject matter is conveyed mainly through allusion. The author traces Klein's allusions to their biblical, Talmudic and folkloric sources. Klein's poems are critically interpreted in relation to their Jewish content. The author explains that in Klein's 1951 novel The Second Scroll, Klein's only published novel, terms and concepts are explicated and the biblical parallels are elucidated.
Type
PhD dissertation
University
McGill University
Place
Montreal
Date
1979
# of Pages
502p.
Language
en
URL
Citation
Spiro, Solomon J. “A Study and Interpretation of the Judaic Allusion in The Second Scroll and The Collected Poems of A.M. Klein : Annotations and Commentary.” PhD dissertation, McGill University, 1979. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/2j62s722h?locale=en.
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