UNI 380H1S – Spring 2011
SOCI0-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES OF THECANADIAN JEWISH
COMMUNITY
SYLLABUS
Thursdays 10 -12, University College, Room 372
Instructor: Franklin Bialystok
franklin.bialystok@utoronto.ca
Office: University College, D 203
Office Hours: Thursdays, 12:30 to 2 or by appointment
Overview of the Course
This course examines the contributions made by Canadian Jews to Canadian
culture. We use culture in the broad perspective, as the sense of place and identity
of residents in a nation-state. This does not limit the student to the study of the arts,
but rather looks at how the literature, journalism, scholarship, the plastic arts,
music, drama, film, broadcasting, sport and other cultural markers have framed
Canadian identity. This course concentrates on literature. We will examine the
writing of Canadian Jews, from the turn of the twentieth century until the present,
within the context of their time and space. The emphasis will be on how the writers
were influenced by the events of their time, their physical and human environment,
and how their work reflected their reality. One dynamic that we will investigate is
the degree of “Jewishness” that influences their work. In other words, we are
examining the dialectic between the artist as Canadian Jew, and as a Canadian who
happens to be Jewish. This dialectic will frame some of our discussions. As this is
not a literature course, we are not focusing on syntax, style or literary criticism, but
rather on how literature sheds perspectives on Canadian Jewish society.
The course will follow an approximate chronology through the Twentieth Century.
It is expected that students will have a basic post-secondary knowledge of Canadian
history and society.
The course will be largely based on discussions of the required readings. Short
explanatory lectures will provide context, as needed. We will incorporate music into
the class as well as film, as time allows.
Course Requirements and Evaluation
NOTE: THIS COURSE HAS A HIGH AMOUNT OF READING. IF YOU ARE
NOT WILLING TO DO THE READING YOU SHOULD RE-CONSIDER
TAKING THIS COURSE.
The primary requirement is contribution to the class discussions. Attendance is
compulsory. Marks will be deducted in the case of unverified absences. Students
are required to have read the course readings and to be prepared to discuss them.
This cannot be stressed enough. As such, student contribution is mandatory in each
class. Class work comprises 25% of the course mark.
A second requirement is presentations. These will take three forms. The first will
require students to periodically provide a brief (a few minutes) biographical picture
of a writer that will be discussed that day. The second is a presentation of a
supplementary work of fiction. More on this below. Third, in the final class,
students will present an overview of their term essay. There will not be grades for
these presentations, as they are meant to be informal, but consideration of this work
will be part of the class mark.
A third requirement is a short book review. Students will select a work of
literature, a novel, a set of poetry, or a play, which they will present to the class and
which they will review, critically, from the perspective of the author’s time and
place. This review will be 3-4 pages in length and will comprise 15% of the course
mark and will be due the week after the presentation. This assignment will be
scattered from Week 3 to Week 11.
The final requirement is a term long study of a different form of cultural
representation than is being looked at in class. Students will select from a broad
category of topics early in the term, and engage in research on this topic. Students
will hand in a proposal by February 10. This will be done in discussion with the
instructor. The proposal will include a tentative bibliography. This proposal will
comprise 10% of the course mark. The final study will be a paper of approximately
15 pages, plus footnotes and bibliography. Students will informally present their
research in Week 12 (see above). The paper based on this study will comprise 50%
of the course mark.
Course Texts
Students will purchase the following texts from the U of T Store:
Menkis, Richard and Ravvin, Norman, eds. The Canadian Jewish Studies Reader
(M & R)
Michaels, Anne. Fugitive Pieces.
Richler, Mordechai. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
In addition, student will purchase the Course Kit from the instructor who has paid a
copy centre for the reproduction. The cost is approximately $25. This transaction
will occur on the first class.
Class Schedule and Required Readings
January 13
Week One: Overview and Historical Background
Reading: M & R: Articles by Menkis, Tulchinsky, Brown, 13 – 89
January 20
Week Two: Yiddish Montreal
Reading: M & R: Articles by Robinson, Margolis, 126-163
Course Kit: An Everyday Miracle: Yiddish Culture in Montreal. Butovsky, Anctil,
Robinson, eds., 11-101; 115-157
Course Kit: Melech Ravitch (1893-1976) in Parchment, Contemporary Jewish
Writing, Vol. 2, 1993-4, 19-23.
Book Review Assignment handed out.
Term Study Assignment handed out.
January 27
Week Three: The World of A. M. Klein
Readings: M&R: Article by Anctil, 350 – 372
Course Kit: Greenstein, ed., Contemporary Jewish Writing in Canada, xi-xx;
Geddes, ed., Canadian Poets x 3, 36-49; Kaplan, Like One That Dreamed, 16 - 66,
105-121, 165-177.
First Book Reviews begin, and will be part of every class until Week Eleven.
February 3
Week Four: The "Three Greats" of post-war Montreal – Layton, Cohen, Richler
Readings: Course Kit: Greenstein, ed., Contemporary Jewish Writing in Canada,
xxi-xxix, 3-26; Layton, Selected Poems, xv-xxvii, 100, 108, 117-118, 146-150, 191-196,
277-8; Sherman in Parchment, Vol. 10, 2001-2, 13-22; Cohen, Selected Poems, 69-77,
122; Ravvin, A House of Words – Jewish Writing, Identity and Memory, on Cohen,
Richler, 22-47.
February 10
Week Five: Richler’s Montreal
Reading: The Apprentice of Duddy Kravitz
Term Study Proposals Due
READING WEEK
February 24
Week Six: The French Fact in Jewish Montreal
Readings: Reader: M & R, Article by Rosen, 108-125
Course Kit: Greenstein, ed., Contemporary Jewish Writing in Canada xxix-xxxi, 5995 on excerpts from Naim Kattan, Monique Bosco, Regine Robin; Bosco in
Parchment, Vol. 2, 89-91; Kattan in Parchment, Vol. 10 – 60-68.
March 3
Week Seven: Jewish Life in the Frontier - The Prairie Experience
Readings: M & R: Articles by Waddington, 216-223; Ravvin, 266-282
Course Kit: Greenstein, ed., Contemporary Jewish Writing in Canada, xxxi-xxxix;
Greenstein, Triptych of Prairie Past in Parchment, Vol. 2, 9; Geddes, ed. Canadian
Poets x 3, 81-91 (Waddington), 187-198 (Mandel); Ravvin, Hidden Canada, 123-142
March 10
Week Eight: The Holocaust and its Impact on Canadian Jewish Identity
Readings: M & R: Articles by Bialystok, 283-331; Schober, 332-347; Troper and
Weinfeld, 373-422 (Optional)
Course Kit: “Sefer Otwock”, “Little Streets” by Sam (Simcha) Simchowitch in
Parchment #3, 35-8; “The Matmid in Canada”, “Rozia of Klimentow” by Donia
Blumenfeld Clenman, “ in Parchment #10, 130-7; “The Apostate’s Tatoo”, “Fifty
Bullets”, “The Coinciding of Sosnowiec, Upper Silesia, Poland, 1942, and Banff,
Alberta, Canada” by J.J. Steinfeld in Dancing At The Club Holocaust – Stories New
and Selected; “How To Tell Your Children about the Holocaust” by Ruth Mandel in
Parchment #3, 77-79.
March 17
Week Nine: Anne Michaels: From Poland to Greece to Toronto
Reading: Fugitive Pieces
March 24
Week Ten: What about Ontario?
Readings: M & R: Articles by Diamond, 186-215; Ravvin, 474-484
Course Kit: Greenstein, ed, xxix-xxli, Norman Levine, “By a Frozen River”; Matt
Cohen, “The Sins of Thomas Benares” in Greenstein, ed., Contemporary Jewish
Writing in Canada, 141-177.
March 31:
Week Eleven: Contemporary Writers
Readings: Course Kit: “Tapka”, “Natasha” by David Bezmogis, Natasha and other
stories, 1-18, 79-110; “Namesake” by J. J. Steinfeld in Parchment #3, 24-34; “A
Jew’s House” by Norman Ravvin, in Parchment #2, 56-62; “Creeping” by Sharon
Abron Drache, 173-185, and “Three Poems From the March of the Living April
2000” by Lisa Lidor, 36-39 in Parchment #10
Final Book Reviews presented.
April 7:
Week Twelve: Presentations and Discussion of Term Study Assignments
April 14 - Noon: Term Assignment Due