Research Catalog

Title

The metaphor of celebrity : Canadian poetry and the public, 1955-1980 / Joel Deshaye.

Author

Deshaye, Joel, 1977-

Publication

• Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, [2013]
• ©2013

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

264 pages; 24 cm

Summary

The Metaphor of Celebrity is an exploration of the significance of literary celebrity in Canadian poetry. It focuses on the lives and writing of four widely recognized authors who wrote about stardom -- Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Irving Layton, and Gwendolyn MacEwen -- and the specific moments in Canadian history that affected the ways in which they were received by the broader public. Joel Deshaye elucidates the relationship between literary celebrity and metaphor in the identity crises of celebrities, who must try to balance their public and private selves in the face of considerable publicity. He also examines the ways in which celebrity in Canadian poetry developed in a unique way in light of the significant cultural events of the decades between 1950 and 1980, including the Massey Commission, the flourishing of Canadian publishing, and the considerable interest in poetry in the 1960s and 1970s, which was followed by a rapid fall from public grace, as poetry was overwhelmed by greater popular interest in Canadian novels." -- Publisher website.

Subject

• Canadian poetry > 20th century > History and criticism
• Poets, Canadian > Public relations
• Canadian poetry > 20th century > Social aspects
• Authors and readers > Canada > History > 20th century
• Poésie canadienne > 20e siècle > Histoire et critique
• Poètes canadiens > Relations publiques
• Poésie canadienne > 20e siècle > Aspect social
• Écrivains et lecteurs > Canada > Histoire > 20e siècle

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-256) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- The metaphor of celebrity -- The era of celebrity in Canadian poetry -- Becoming "too public" in the poetry of Irving Layton -- Fighting words : Layton on radio and television -- Recognition, anonymity, and Leonard Cohen's stranger music -- "I like that line because it's got my name in it" : masochistic stardom in Cohen's poetry -- Celebrity, sexuality, and the uncanny in Michael Ondaatje's The collected works of Billy the Kid -- "A razor in the body" : Ondaatje's Rat jelly and Secular love -- The magician and his public in the poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen -- Passing and celebrity in MacEwen's The T.E. Lawrence pomes -- Conclusion: public, nation, now -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix : four tables -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Call Number

JFE 15-6449

ISBN

• 9781442646612 (bound)
• 1442646616 (bound)

LCCN

2013474650

OCLC

842499954

Author

Deshaye, Joel, 1977- author.

Title

The metaphor of celebrity : Canadian poetry and the public, 1955-1980 / Joel Deshaye.

Publisher

Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, [2013]

Copyright Date

©2013

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-256) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 15-6449