Information AboutIrving Layton |
Layton's work had provided the bolt of lightning that was needed to split open the thin skin of conservatism and complacency in the poetry scene of the preceding century, allowing modern poetry to expose previously unseen richness and depth.T. Jacobs. 2001. Irving Layton, Biography Canadian Poets series, University of Toronto. EARLY LIFE On . Layton graduated from Alexandra Elementary School and attended Baron Byng High School , where his life was changed when he was introduced to such poets as Alfred Lord Tennyson , Walter Scott , William Wordsworth , Lord Byron , and Percy Bysshe Shelley ; the novelists Jane Austen and George Eliot ; the essayists Francis Bacon , Oliver Goldsmith , Samuel Johnson , and Jonathan Swift ; and also William Shakespeare and Charles Darwin . He was befriended by David Lewis and became very interested in politics and social theory.Smith, p. 155 He joined the Young People's Socialist League or YPSL (commonly pronounced "Yipsel"), which Lewis lead.Smith, p. 155 He began reading Karl Marx and Nietzsche . His activities in YPSL were deemed a threat to the high school administration and was asked to leave before graduating in 1930.Smith, p. 149 It was Lewis who introduced Layton to A.M. Klein .Smith, p. 149 Lewis asked Klein to be Layton's Latin tutor so he could pass the junior matriculation exams.Smith, p. 149 Lewis gave him $10 to pay the fee for the exam and he passed.Smith, p. 149 It was also during his time with Klein that he became interested in the sound of poetry.Smith, p. 149 Klein and I met once weekly at Fletcher's Field just across from the YHMA on Mt. Royal Avenue, and I vividly recall the first lesson: Vigil's ''Aeneid, Book II:I''Layton, ''Waiting for the Messiah, p. 135'' EMERGING POET: THE 1930S AND 1940S In light of his limited educational opportunities, with no high school diploma, and also due to limited finances, he enrolled in Macdonald College in 1934 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture . While in college, he was well known in artistic circles for his anti-bourgeois attitudes and his criticism of politics. He quickly found that his true interest was poetry, so pursued a career as a poet and became friends with the emerging young poets of his day, including fellow Canadian poets John Sutherland, Raymond Souster , and Louis Dudek . In the 1940s, Layton and his fellow Canadian poets rejected the older generation of poets, as well as critic Northrop Frye ; their efforts helped define the tone of the post-war generation poets in Canada. Essentially, they argued that modern poetry should set its own style, independent of British styles and influences, and should reflect the social realities of the day. In 1936, Layton met Faye Lynch, whom he married in 1938. When Layton graduated from Macdonald College in 1939, he moved with Faye to Halifax where he worked odd jobs, including a stint as a Fuller Brush man. Soon disenchanted with his life, Layton decided, one evening, to return to Montreal. He began teaching English to recent immigrants to make ends meet and continued doing so for many years. Indecisive about his future and enraged by Hitler's violence toward Jews and destruction of European culture, Layton enlisted in the Canadian army in 1942. While serving at Petawawa , Layton met Betty Sutherland, an accomplished painter (and later poet), and a half-sister to actor Donald Sutherland . Layton soon divorced Faye and married Betty. They had two children together: Max Reuben (1946) and Naomi Parker (1950). In 1943, Layton was given an honourable discharge from the army and returned to Montreal. Layton's involvement with 2006 ) 1950S: INTERNATIONAL "STARDOM" By the mid-1950s, Layton's activism and poetry had made him a staple on the CBC televised debating program "Fighting Words," where he earned a reputation as a formidable debater. The publication of "A Red Carpet For The Sun" in 1959 secured Layton's national reputation while the many books of poetry which followed eventually made him an internationally known celebrity. In 1946, after receiving his M.A. in economics and political science from McGill (with a thesis on (now Concordia University ) and as a tenured professor at Toronto's York University in the 1970s, as well as delivering many lectures and readings throughout Canada. Layton pursued his Ph.D. in 1948 though he abandoned it due to the demands of his already hectic professional life. In the late 1950s, friends introduced Layton to Aviva Cantor (who had emigrated to Montreal from her native Australia in 1955). After several years of painful indecision, Layton and Betty separated and Layton moved in with Aviva. The two had a son, David, in 1964. Though Layton remained legally married to Betty, his relationship with Aviva lasted more than twenty years, only ending in the late 1970s when Aviva left. LATTER YEARS AND LEGACY It was in the immediate aftermath of this experience that Layton finally divorced Betty and, after a whirlwind courtship, married Harriet Bernstein, a former student. In 1981, a daughter, Samantha Clara, was born. The marriage was short-lived, however, and ended in a bitterly contested divorce. Layton then met Anna (Annette) Pottier, and invited her to be his housekeeper. It became instantly apparent that she would play a far greater role in his life. Although 48 years his junior, she became his fifth and last wife. They lived briefly in Niagara-on-the-Lake in the fall of 1982, then spent nearly a year in Oakville, Ontario, before moving, at the end of 1983, to the Montreal neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. It was here that Layton wrote his Memoir "Waiting For the Messiah" and, with Anna's tireless support, saw to the publication of the last ten or so editions as well as numerous translations of his work. With the same grace, love, and respect that had characterized their union, the couple would eventually agree that Anna needed to begin a life of her own. She moved out on March 1, 1995. Layton was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease . He died at the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal at the age of 93 on January 4 , 2006 . Throughout the 1950s and on into the early 1990s, Layton travelled widely abroad and became especially popular in South Korea and Italy , and in 1981 these two nations nominated him for the Nobel Prize For Literature . (The prize that year was instead awarded to novelist Gabriel García Márquez .) Among his many awards during his career was the Governor-General's Award for ''A Red Carpet for the Sun'' in 1959. In 1976 he was made an Officer of the Order Of Canada . He was the first non-Italian to be awarded the Petrarch Award For Poetry , an Italian award to recognize a poet's talent. In his lifetime, Layton attracted some criticism for his bluster, self-promotion and long-windedness. He is remembered by many as one of the first Canadian Rebels of poetry, politics, and philosophy. Many believe he legitimately internationalized himself and even other Canadian poets through his coldness toward his own Canadianness. At Layton's funeral, Leonard Cohen and David Solway expressed, in their eulogies, that Layton was a Revolutionary thinker who was radical, but realistic. All the eulogists agreed he was a great poet, arguably the first great poet of Canada. He is considered Leonard Cohen's literary -- and some would argue spiritual -- Guru .''' Leonard Cohen once said of him, "I taught him how to dress, and he taught me how to live forever." He is remembered in Canadian literature for having written 40 poetry and prose books through his career. WORKS
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