A.M. Klein The Letters

Book excerpt: In the final volume of the Collected Works of A.M. Klein, Elizabeth Popham completes the process of restoring the public voice of one of Canada's most respected authors. A.M. Klein: The Letters is the first compilation of a significant body of Klein's correspondence. Using his communications to construct a compelling narrative, Popham traces Klein's career from his apprenticeship to great critical success and his tragically premature silence. The content of Klein's letters gives new resonance to his works, most notably to his critically acclaimed novel The Second Scroll (1951) and his Governor General Award-winning The Rocking Chair and Other Poems (1948). In his exchanges with publishers and scholars, Klein glosses his own writing and argues for the integrity of his poetic vision. Samplings of his correspondence with Seagram's Distilleries clarify Klein's controversial role as ghost-writer and PR consultant for Sam Bronfman. A valuable resource for understanding Canadian literary modernism, diasporic Judaism, and the culture of Montreal, A.M. Klein: The Letters is a remarkable portrait of an important Canadian literary figure of the twentieth century.