May 13, 2005 - Glebe Report

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41 Glebe Report May 13, 2005 BOOKS By Sharon Abron Drache A most sophisticated and secular Jewish/Canadian writer THE ALMOST MEETING By Henry Kreisel NeWest Press, 149 pages, $18.95 (paper) The late Henry Kreisel's (1922- 1991) collected stories written between 1954 and 1981 are a welcome and important reprint in NeWest's Landmark Edition. Back in 1981, The Almost Meeting was one of the books I reviewed during my first year as books columnist for the Glebe Report, and there's more.... A few years earlier, I had written to Dr. Kreisel, who was then chair of Canadian Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I had read his novels, The Rich Man (1948) and The Betrayal (1964), both in McClelland and Stewart's New Canadian Library Series, and I realised that, like A.M. Klein (1909-1972) and Adele Wiseman (1928-1992), Henry Kreisel belonged to the first generation of Jewish/Canadian immigrant fiction writers. At the time, I was studying Canadian Literature at Carleton, writing an essay on Klein, a victim of depression, who had become a recluse in the last 17 years of his life except for occasional visitors. I had wondered if Kreisel was one of those visitors. Author Henry Kreisel Kreisel wrote back: "...You ask about A.M. Klein. I have had a long, silent, almost mystical bond with him ever since 1942, when I first read him...Whether I knew him personally is more complex. I met him almosttwice." These quotes are taken from Kreisel's May 14, 1980 letter to me, published in his memoir, Another Country (1986). He was also generous enough to write on October 7, 1980: "You stood in a way as godmother to the story, The Almost Meeting." A fine reward for this reviewer, a fledgling Jewish/ Canadian writer, whose first collection of stories, The Mikveh Man, was not published until 1984. In 1988, when Henry was named. an Officer of the Order of Canada, we hosted a dinner party in our Glebe home for Henry and his wife, Esther. For me, Kreisel is the most sophisticated of Jewish/Canadian fiction writers, probably because his writings are the most secular. He was born in Vienna and fled the Anschluss (1938) as a young man, only to be interned as an enemy alien, first in England and then in his adopted country, Canada. German was his first language, but during his internment, he abandoned German and embraced English. In Another Country, he addresses the disengagement that writing in a second language brings with it. Henry struggled and triumphed. English became both home and havenhe loved reading, writing and teaching its literature. In the afterword of this Landmark Edition, E.D. Blodgett writes: "Literature was not simply a text for Kreisel, it was a vast and intricate system of notation, and its interpreter was less critic than musician. His role was to activate the text, and through its actualization his audience had the sense that it could get no nearer the text than the inflection Henry gave it. He belonged to that line of teachers that understands that part of teaching is its oracular dimension." Blodgett also writes: "While Kreisel placed his life in a wholly secular dimension, his writing is for the most part a vibrant aspect of the Jewish Diaspora." A part of and yet apart from summarize the pervading mood in Henry Kreisel's collected stories. In The Almost Meeting, a legacy is passed from one generation to another, while the people involved in playing out events appear to matter only peripherally. Stories including Chassidic Song, Broken Globe and Annerl explore secular as opposed to religious faith. The fragility of marriage is the theme of The Anonymous Letter, with a young boy discovering that his father is having an extramarital affair. The Homecoming, the longest story of the collection, is bittersweet, portraying Kreisel's love of family and community. Holocaust survivor Mordecai Drimmer returns to his hometown, Narodnowa. An antisemitic peasant tells him the one good thing Hitler did was to rid the town of its Jews. Yet miraculously, in the ruined Jewish quarter, Mordecai finds his mother's brother, the only survivor of their family. Then Mordecai meets Rachel, who is mourning the death of her husband. With destruction all around them, the two Holocaust survivors fall in love. Kreisel's characters' respect for their parents is sacrosanct, where the author fears to tread, except obliquely. In Travelling Nude, a son, rather than informing his fathtr that he has lost his job as an art teacher, invents a riotous story about hiring a live female model to sit for his students. For the entire first half of the story, the focal point is the model, travelling stark-naked except for her high heels and handbag, to a circuit of small towns outside Edmonton with populations of 1,500 or less. In all Kreisel's stories, there are varying degrees of irony, reflecting the irony of his own life. Having his Jewish/European origins torn away from him by the Nazis, he was incarcerated in the countries he fled to for safety. Yet ironically, these countries, first England, and then Canada, became his protectors and nurturers. Henry Kreisel's gifts as author, teacher and university administrator have left a lasting legacy to the canon of Canadian literature. Sadly, he died of cancer at the age of 68. His wife, Esther, died shortly after. They have one son, Philip, and two grandsons. Henry with his wife, Esther FUN FUR ALL bog Walking & Pet Sitting Service Do you work long hours? Do you travel for business or pleasure? Wondering how to make this less stressful on your pets? 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CHURCH Glebe Report May 13, 2005 42 Please join us for an important seminar BUS.INESS OWNERS' SEM INAR LET US GROW YOUR INVESTMENTS AND YOUR BUSINESS Megan Doyle, director of development of the Hospice at Maycourt; Father Joe Le Clair; and Barbara O'Connor, executive director of the hospice. A special gift from Blessed Sacrament parish to the Hospice at Maycourt BY MARSHA SKUCE With tulips rising, it's unusual to think of Christmas carols. But for the Hospice at Maycourt, that's what's happening. With the spring fundraiser, Hike for Hospice, just completed, staff and volunteers are not only grateful for the recent donations, they're also remembering a large winter gift. "It blew us away," says Megan Doyle, Director of Development for the Hospice. It was a $12,000 donation, raised through the sale of a specially-produced CD of Christmas carols, from Blessed Sacrament Church at Fourth Avenue and Percy Street. The singers and musicians were from the church's own choirs. There is no formal affiliation between Blessed Sacrament, one of the city's oldest Catholic churches, and the hospice on Cameron Avenue, which offers support programs and help for patients facing lifethreatening illness and for their families. "But why not?" says Father Joe Le Clair, the pastor of Blessed Sacrament. "They provide a wonderful service and we decided to do this for them." Father Joe says he's seen that service first-hand many times when he's been at the hospice visiting the ill and the dying. Producing, arranging and coordinating singers and musicians on the CD project was managed by parish member Chris McGuire, a teacher and musician. "This was a great celebration of our community," he says, because it brought together 30 singers and musicians who make up the church's several choirs. One of McGuire's tasks was to keep the production costs down; this was to be, after all, a fundraiser. One way of doing that was to choose traditional, beloved songs in the public domain. There were license fees for only two of the 16 tracks. Starting last October, McGuire and his crew worked nights and weekends for six weeksplanning, writing, rehearsing and recording. "It was an intense period," he says, made possible by supportive families and Father Joe's encouragement. The result was a uniquely local in fact, a uniquely GlebeChristmas disc. The 2,000 copies produced were quickly snapped up. (Father Joe was especially proud of his parishioners because, on the day the cheque was presented to the Hospice at Maycourt, Blessed Sacrament also raised $20,000 for tsunami relief.) For McGuire, the CD project was intensely bittersweet. As he was working through the production, his own mother was dying in Sudbury. "I couldn't help but realize that if she lived in Ottawa, we'd be using the services of the hospice." Changes to Sunday services at St. Matthew's Anglican Church Glebe Avenue near Bank Street May 15, 5 p.m.Evening Prayer (said) June 5, 5 p.m.Choral Evensong (last evensong until the fall) June 12, 10 a.m.open air service and picnic at Vincent Massey Park (no 10 a.m. service at the church) June 19youth service at 10a.m. TOPICS: Investment disciplines Tax strategies available to business owners Retirement Compensations Agreements Business Succession Strategies YOUR HOSTS: Ken Kwan, FMA, FCSI, Investment Advisor Joseph Power, 11.13., TEP, Will & Estate Consultant RBC Dominion Securities DATE & TIME: Tuesday, May 31", 2005 at 700 p.m. LOCATION RBC Royal Bank (Bank and First Avenue Branch) 745 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 3V3 To RSVP and receive more information for this seminar please contactleny at (613) 564-2770. RBC Dominion RBC Securities RBC Dominion Securities Inc..and RoyalBankofCanada are separatecorporateentities which are affiliated. 'Member CIPE Insurance products are offered through RBC DS Anancial Services Inc., a subsidiary of RBC Dominion Securities Inc. When providing life insurance products, Investment Advisors are acting as Insurance Representatives of RBC OS financial Services Inc. @Registered trademark of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. RBC Dominion Securities Is a registered trademark of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. ()Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. From your desktop to your do Full service online Grocery 51*ppin and Home Delivery available at ... LI)ebciebe ZIIfl . urty Why not E-mail us your shopping list and we will deliver to your door! see details at... www.loebglebe.com Look for information about hours of summer services in Glebe churches in the June 17 issue of the Glebe Report. RICHARD PATTEN, MPP OTTAWA CENTRE 1292 Wellington Street KlY 3A9 Tel: 722-6414 Fax: 722-6703 rpatten.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org Organic Meats... now available online! Check out our large selection of organic produces now available both instore and online. Lbeb Glebe Check out our Weekly §pecials & great fecipes at... www. loebglebé.com 754 Bank Street Tel: (613) 232-9466 Fax: (613) 232-6502 Store Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00am - 10:00pm Saturday 8:00am - 9:00pm / Sunday 9:00am - 8:00pm
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Page 3 and 4: NEWS Glebe Rocking for seniors Hawa
Page 5 and 6: EDITORIAL PAGE Thanks and farewell
Page 7 and 8: GCA MEMBERSHIP Glebe "For nearly 40
Page 9 and 10: NEWS BY JOY McALPINE The City of Ot
Page 11 and 12: NEWS Glebe Report May 13, 2005 10 G
Page 13 and 14: FEATURE Glebe BY MAGGIE NEGODAEFF G
Page 15 and 16: Bells and Whistles Loosely translat
Page 17 and 18: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Rates L
Page 19 and 20: SPORTS Glebe Trevor Dawson (#5) of
Page 21 and 22: CONSTRUCTION Glebe Report May 13, 2
Page 23 and 24: ART Glebe Report May 13, 2005 22 ,M
Page 25 and 26: ART Glebe Ar) a rtIst's (Ifeso far
Page 27 and 28: MUSIC Glebe Baobab youth group in a
Page 29 and 30: N EWS Glebe Taking yoga to Ottawa's
Page 31 and 32: CONTEST Glebe Essay Contest winner
Page 33 and 34: NEWS Providing work for adults with
Page 35 and 36: TRUSTEE REPORT Glebe Understanding
Page 37 and 38: SCHOOL NEWS Glebe 5th Avenue Court
Page 39 and 40: 2 GCI NEWSLETTER Glebe 6E1 students
Page 41: BOOKS Book picks for older children
Page 45: GNAG, Committed to the Community Gl

May 13, 2005 - Glebe Report

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