Lovers and Lesser Men

by Irving Layton

Genres: Poetry, Canada

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Poet, Teacher.

Born as Israel Pincu Lazarovitch, author Irving Layton immigrated to Canada in 1913, as a baby, his family settling on the infamous St. Urbain Street in the city of Montreal. In the heavily French-speaking province of Quebec, some locals were weary of English foreigners and Jewish families, however, the Lazarovitches adapted to the city where a great Canadian literary scene flourished, producing several English (Canadian) authors such as Mordecai Richler, Leonard Cohen and Louis Dudek.

In the early 1930's, Irving Layton received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from MacDonald College. In 1946, he received his M.A. in Political Science. He also began teaching English, History, and Political Science at the Jewish parochial high school, Herzliah, in 1949. He taught modern English and American poetry at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) and worked as a tenured professor at York University in the 1970s. He lectured occasionally at McGill University in Political Science. He taught English and Literature at the Jewish Public Library.

Irving Layton often recited his works at readings and travelled the world doing so, gaining fame and popularity. Over the course of his life, Irving Layton received many awards and honours for his writing. In 1959, Irving Layton received the Governor-General's Award for "A Red Carpet for the Sun." He was titled an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1976. In 1981, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature by Italy and South Korea. He also received the Petrarch Award for Poetry.

Well loved, Irving led a full life surrounded by students, friends and family. He was married four times - to Faye Lynch, Harriet Bernstein, Annette Pottier and Betty Sutherland. He also lived with a woman named Aviva Cantor for several years. He fathered four children during his life named Max, Naomi, David and Samantha Clara.

Reviews

[Tim Kiernan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book!

[Nick McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irving Layton is an interesting poet in that he was masculine, opinionated, a bit aggressive, cynical, and a womanizer. These are qualities we don't find so easily in the genre, as most poets come from a place of gentleness. And yet despite the usual connotations of these traits, there is something redeeming in them in Layton. If nothing else he was honest, he knew who he was, and he didn't hide it in his art. This made some of Layton's more realized work an interesting read, if nothing else.

In Lovers and Lesser Men we find poetry that was written in Greece while Layton was getting too much sun, living among joyful people, in beautiful surroundings. I don't have much context, but I suspect we're catching him in a good mood in this title. Much of what's contained in this collection has a kind of joie-de-vivre, and reflects the beauty of life lived in Greece.

After reading some of his earlier work in A Red Carpet for the Sun I get the impression that he'd improved his craft quite dramatically. In the earlier work he was quite verbose and not always coherent, while here he seems to have reined that in a bit and crafted some good pieces that use his vocabulary and wit more effectively.

All in all Layton is a poet you might not want to dive into too deeply, but if you wanted to check him out Lovers and Lesser Men would be a good example of his work, and a worthy addition to any poetry collection.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political, lusty, irreverent and bold; sometimes whimsical, others wistful; ruthless and satiric, certainly ribald and always full of zest and a delicious joie de vivre!