Mordecai and Me: An Appreciation of a Kind

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

In a wry and comic prologue, Joel Yanofsky admits to having been driven
to an expensive dream analyst by the project he sums up as “about
Mordecai.” His self-described “really unauthorized biography” is
divided into four parts: “Apprenticeship, 1931–1958,” “Cocksure,
1959–1971,” “Home Sweet Home, 1971–1991,” and “Mordecai
Richler Was Here, 1992–2002.”

Chapter titles are idiosyncratic and quirky. In the first chapter,
“Confessions of a Book Reviewer,” Yanofsky makes a major point: this
is an autobiography as much as a memoir. Richler’s stories and
experiences are constantly reminding Yanofsky of his own. The book’s
copy-editor sums it up perfectly on the dust jacket as a literary
appreciation that turns into a literary stalking, “propelled as much
by envy as admiration, irreverence as affection, confession as critical
judgment … a funny, intimate, gossipy book about the writing life,
writers, and one great writer in particular.”

When Yanofsky shares Richler’s convictions, the memoirist often
trumps the biographer. Together in a bar, the two agree that writing is
a tough life. Yanofsky recalls sitting waiting for Richler to confide
that he had been reading Yanofsky’s book reviews or columns and found
them droll and perceptive. He quotes British critic Cyril Connolly’s
shrewd perception that fans may want to meet writers but only to talk
about themselves. This could be read as an ironic confession and a
description of Yanofsky’s amusing saga of two writers and their shared
passion for writing and self-promotion.

Anecdotes, the stuff of gossip columns, are one of Yanofsky’s
stylistic tricks. Often one anecdote leads to several more, all linked
by an observation on writing. Criticism of Richler’s naпveté is
delivered via Margaret Atwood’s reminiscence on the writing life.
Yanofsky’s readers need flexibility to go with the flow.

In short, Mordecai and Me is a witty celebration of writing and of
“chutzpah” or bravado. The book is loosely organized (or
disorganized) by numerous anecdotes and reflections on writing. In a
cover comment, writer William Weintraub calls the numerous digressions
“wide-ranging but relevant” and highly enjoyable. Many readers will
share his reaction.