AM Klein: The Story of the Poet

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the author of Calling Texas and Earth Prime.

Klein is perhaps the most gifted poet in Canada, but he ended his career
in silence and despair. This book focuses on A.M. Klein’s constant
theme, the nature and role of the poet in a society that sees him as a
“shelved Lycidas,” drowned in an inhospitable, unimaginative
reality. Though not a biography, Pollock’s work will help us to
understand what happened to Klein and to appreciate his very real
achievement, even if the achievement fell short of the enormous
potential. An astonishingly learned poet, much of Klein’s learning
draws on Jewish traditions that are not widely known. Pollock has a
strong grasp of this material and helps the reader to grasp it. His
guardian angel in this project of critical understanding is Walter
Benjamin—an ideal choice, in that Pollock uses this Jewish mystic
turned Marxist to illuminate the Jewish poet turned socialist. Readers
interested in Canadian poetry will have much to learn from this very
perceptive book.