Mordecai Richler
January 27, 1931 – July 03, 2001
Countries:
Canada
Place of Birth:
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Place of Death:
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Mordecai Richler, CC (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997). His 1970 novel St Urbain's Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two children's fantasy series.
In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Arriving as immigrants in Canada when English was the country's predominant official language, the Jewish communities in Montreal (a city in the largely francophone province of Quebec) usually acquired English, not French, as a second language after Yiddish. This later put them at odds with the Quebec nationalist movement, most of which argued for French as the province's only official language. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.
In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Arriving as immigrants in Canada when English was the country's predominant official language, the Jewish communities in Montreal (a city in the largely francophone province of Quebec) usually acquired English, not French, as a second language after Yiddish. This later put them at odds with the Quebec nationalist movement, most of which argued for French as the province's only official language. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.