The Incomparable Atuk

by Mordecai Richler

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative—and hazardous—schemes.

Richler's hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of "the Canadian identity" and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Canadian Literature, Humor, School, Satire, Novels

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Working-class Jewish background based novels, which include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Saint Urbain's Horseman (1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.

People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.

A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.

Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.

Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.

Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.

Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.

In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.

Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.

Richler died of cancer.

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 1 out of 5]

J'ai lu ce roman il y a cinquante ans quand j'étais toujours à l'école. Je l'ai trouvé tellement abjecte que j'ai attendu un autre quarante ans avant de lire un deuxième roman de Richler.

En principe les blancs ont autant de droit à critiquer les Inuits qu'ont les Inuits à nous critiquer, mais le mauvais gout de ce roman est impardonable.

[Jay Szpirs · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a stunning thing when a writer as practiced, precise, and methodical as Richler gives the 'South Park' treatment to the national myths of the day. Although couched in language that is unarguably antiquated and with a sensibility that is sure to ruffle the feathers of more sensitive modern readers, Richler's critique of who we (Canadians) think we are is still poignant and, largely, valid.

'Atuk' is the story of an "Eskimo" poet (already, the language of the novel dates it. Racist terminology peppers the entire novel and speaks to prevailing ideas of race at the time) who, after settling in Toronto, comes to embody the worst aspects of western culture. While projecting an image of the 'noble savage', Atuk runs a sweat shop in his basement where his relatives make 'authentic Eskimo' sculptures, seduces, lies, and cheats his way to the top. For me, this represents the thesis of the novel: not only do the basest aspects of our culture ruin us, but every other culture it contacts.

Along the way, Atuk mixes with characters equally debauched, many of them from minorities as well. Richler is clearly having great fun with this idea: that racism is not exclusive to any one ethnic group and no cultural background is immune to the corrupting influence of success. Memorable moments include a Black character who escapes detection by the man he has just cuckolded by saying, "I guess we all look alike to you". Atuk turns the traditional defenses of Zionism on their head by applying them to Canada. A female reporter and cross-dressing RCMP officer poke holes in our assumptions about sexuality. Richler has minted a universe filled with characters who all undermine our assumptions about race and gender: the resentful liberal who is angered at the all-too-human actions of the minorities he champions, xenophobic and unobservant Rabbis, a self-help guru who shamelessly helps himself. In the world of 'Atuk', The corrupting influence of success, be it financial, academic, or social, pervades everything and undermines our noblest and most cherished values and, worse, our self-image.

'Atuk' is a book that has a great deal to say about the young nation of Canada in the 1960's, much of which is relevant to the Canada of today. If nothing else, it subverts our sense of moral superiority and reminds us that, for all of our enlightened, liberal values, everyone is a little bit racist and if we are unwilling to cross-examine ourselves, Richler will happily do it for us.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The message of this book rings true today - the hypocrisy of Canadians who strive to differentiate themselves from Americans by honouring Canadian culture regardless of its quality. Of course we have some very high quality art and culture, but let's face it, certain tv shows that would never have made it through a season in the US are still with us years later - cough, cough, Corner Gas. And while I love the Group of Seven too, if I see their art bastardized on one more set of coasters or placemats, I'm going to scream! So Mordecai Richler makes some excellent points here, however, this book itself represents to me the same phenomena...it's extremely dull and unentertaining, but full of Canadian content. Is this an ironic example of another Canadian work of art that has been given some attention simply because it was created by a Canadian icon, or did Richler actually write it using such a technique to drive home his point? If I knew that answer, I'd be able to determine whether I liked this book or not. I loved the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and would love to think that Mordecai couldn't disappoint me with later works, and yet...I was as entertained reading this as I was when I wathced 5 minutes of Corner Gas....

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A ridiculously over-the-top little sherrick of a novel. It always amazes me to read Mordecai Richler's earliest works, and find that his sharp satire of Canadian society, Canadian culture, Canadian (and intellectual) inferiority complexes and ethnic-ghettoization can be so simultaneously biting AND hilarious. In fact, this one verges on zany, as he tries to throw everything into the mix, including the proverbial kitchen sink. Think of this book as a diamond-in-the-rough dry run for his more successful turn with "Cocksure".

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Incomparable Atuk is showing it's age but it's a good satire. An Inuit moves to Toronto and the whole fish out of water displacement follows with the artists and high society types. Largely a statement about the silliness of media and the dichotomous psyche of Toronto, (alternately bravado and fragility) this book has a lot to say about culture, race and the Canadian ego confronting American saturation.

[Vin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart satire. A good, quick read, but still very entertaining. Actually came across this after reading about the supposed "curse" associated with the attempted film adaptation. (Several actors associated with it at various points, all died: John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy and Chris Farley.)

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lark for Richler, this book is somewhat dated and I don't pretend to get all the inside gags and jabs, but this tale of an Eskimo poet (whose poetry is quite awful) and the Toronto style-setters who fall all over themselves to lionize him and bask in his radiated "glory" is full of laughs. Little does Atuk know when he signs up to play "Stick Out Your Neck" he is really playing "You Bet Your Life." The novel's one mention of Herman Wouk did make me guffaw, I must admit.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a satirical look at national pride, set in the early 1960's. A quick fun read

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richler is the master of dark humor and satire. While not as good as his other novels, TIA is still a fun read that will make you laugh. The Native American Jewish analogy really hit home with me. I actually wrote a paper on this same idea last semester on Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers, so, its still fresh in my mind. I read most of this on public transit, finishing it last night at 4 and half drunk (Hell Yeah Nuit Blanche all you Montrealers!) and Richler's short-to-the-point writing is perfect for that kind of limited-window-of-time reading.

[Troy Parfitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humour is just a funny way of saying something serious. Mordecai Richler's The Incomparable Atuk is a riotously humourous (and accurate) take on (or poke at) Canadian "national culture," special pleading, interest groups, political correctness, dense Americans, sanctimonious Canadians, human corruption, Toronto, you name it. Not a book for people who don't find humour funny.

[Marija · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely give books one star ratings but I did not like this book at all. It kept getting worse and worse. I understand that this book was written during a different time but the overt racism is inexcusable.

[Rusty · Rating 1 out of 5]

A satire of the culture and the pursuit of fame in Ontario, or more specifically Toronto, in the early 1960's. This book was first published in 1963. At the time it was called "a Canadian in--joke", and that was true. The references to people and magazines and attitudes of the time and place were well known to people in Southern Ontario, but not many outside of that area. Today not many readers anywhere would understand the references without annotations. And without that understanding, and perhaps even with, there is no joke.
Only the occasional line is amusing. One character declares, "I'm world famous all over Canada!" But there are far too few of these. The novel reads as though Richler sat in a the corner of a bar and spewed out a draft over a weekend and called it done. For a writer who often railed against mediocrity, he demonstrated here that he was not above some mediocrity himself.
Not worth reading except for a sense of completion from those who want to read everything Richler published.

[Emanuele Bianco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not enough people are talking about this book on the internet.
Instead, too many people talk about the "curse" of a movie script loosely based on this book. The script, if you read it online, would have been so poor no-one in his right mind would watch such a movie (where an eskimo would have been played by an obese white man for the laugh).

[Fraser Hoban · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed at this book's comedic timing and surprises as much as I've ever laughed reading a book! Tremendous light read. A smile everytime I think about it

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost as cursed as Confederacy of Dunces

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seriously wonder if whoever thought up Bob and Doug McKenzie for "SCTV" upon CRTC requirements for "more Canadian content" had read The Incomparable Atuk first.

[CarolynAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 star

[Stephen Hero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant.

It reminded me, a bit, of Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces." Honestly.

And I could see John Candy playing both the Atuk and Ignatius characters in Hollywood blockbusters.

In different blockbusters, obviously. We're not doing a Deadpool & Wolverine thing here, thank God.

[Eden S · Rating 4 out of 5]

So funny

[Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads Summary

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative – and hazardous – schemes.

Richler’s hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of “the Canadian identity” and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.

My Review

In school, I wrote a fairly impressive review on this book, (bagged myself an A), but this review will be fairly short and sweet. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed Atuk, it was the best assigned reading from my Canadian Literature course, and what I thought would be a tragic experience was actually beneficial. This book is entertaining and easy to read, save the semi-disjointedness of passages at times. Richler jumps from a multitude of character perspectives without proper transitioning, making readers feel lost at times. Despite this, the book is interesting. Due to its nature as a satire, laughter is sure to ensue, as well as barbs directed at society, jabs intended to make you think, has the world really changed?

Before knowing this was a 1963 novel, I thought it was at least a 2009 release, just set in an earlier time period. This, I find, is fairly disheartening, that the world seen in these pages is still so accurate a representation of today's society. The ambition, back-stabbing and hypocrisy are rampant still, and nothing has really changed; people have just gotten better at hiding their true natures. This bothers me. What good is pretending? It only makes matters worse and people don't learn anything because no one sees how twisted they are; to the world they represent the perfect citizens, and in their homes followers of Nazi fascism or Ku Klux Klan members. From a supposed modernized world, this is disgusting; give me a break!

In 2012 you are going to stand there and tell me that you think because of your skin colour - something you had no say regarding - you are BETTER than Black, Asian, Hispanic, or other people of colour?

Yeah...




I think the whole world needs a therapy session.



We need to sit down and discuss our issues, why we feel the way we do, why our hatred for one another is detrimental to progress and why hiding it in a box doesn't solve anything. Not to say that dumbass Ku Klux Klan activity will be remotely tolerated. You want to elevate yourself over others? You want me to feel bad for my skin colour, inferior? Screw that. Let me tell you exactly why that cannot and will not happen; you are not God. The day these insecure individuals realize the greater bad they do onto others and the world, we will be a step closer to actually accomplishing something. But...I'm getting off topic here, and a little pissed while at it.

*Breathes deeply*


Back to the book. I still think racism is the dumbest thing since those giant old-type phones you connect to your cell-phone. You know, redundant and useless? That's how I see this whole business of egotistic individuals imagining themselves as superior. Nobody cares, get over it.


Ahem. Anyway, I believe the successfulness of this work in particular is due to Richler's ability to make early Toronto a familiar place to readers, mainly because we are still living there. The dude probably didn't know what he was on to, but hey, it works! People would easily back-stab somebody for their job or position as they would for the last piece of apple pie. Atuk tries to buy into this world of competition and excessiveness, but cannot succeed. Our methods of pretension and craftiness far outweigh the Eskimo's, and in a way Richler asks, did he ever really stand a chance?

3/5 stars

[Friederike Knabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biting satire and black humour characterize this short novella about an Inuit poet who leaves his remote community for a visit to the big city, Toronto. Having been discovered by a fur trader, his poem had reached such popularity among the city folks that they wanted to see the "Eskimo" from Baffin Bay in person. Atuk, however, finds urban life so rich, in many different ways, that he decides to stay. Initially he may come across as an innocent fool, easily exploited and controlled by his "benefactors", but he is a fast learner and soon joins the games and schemes successfully to his own advantage. Until...

Published in 1963 when Richler was living in England, having left Canada in the 1950s, the story benefits from the author's physical and intellectual distance from his country. It thrives on the caricature of a set of Canadians and their machinations. There are, among others, the Uber-Canadian tycoon, the undercover police officer searching for a American colonel who disappeared on Baffin Island while spying, and the investigative journalist who discovers truths mainly about herself. The powerful TV chat show host meddles in controversy and the nice professor has his own secrets. The storyline cannot be revealed without giving too much away. Suffice to say, that it is deliberately farcical and outlandish, yet fast moving and at times confusing enough to keep the reader intrigued.

With Atuk Richler brings out the different political and social stereotypes of the day and, above all, takes Canadians to task over their self image and their national identity, their latent or conspicuous racism and bigotry, their consumerism, greed and tendency to admire all that is American. While written more than 40 years ago, his book has meaning beyond the historical. In addition is a fun read!

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book length "Modest Proposal" on what would happen if Canada really acted out its anti-American attitudes but tried to keep its tried and true Canadian values of bigotry, greed and boorishness while still trying to help those inferior to themselves (condescension intended).

Not content to be labelled as a self-hating Jew by critics for The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Richler sought to broaden his reach and go for the self-hating Canadian medal as well. That would be to "Stick Your Neck Out" and no self-respecting Canadian wants to be seen as doing that! Not only being a self-hating Canadian, but one who tries to be the most self-hating Canadian!

But seriously folks. The satire here is so broad and spot-on that even the thinnest skinned reader must chuckle. Richler enjoys to put the shoes on the other foot time and time again and to see what happens. For example, a Jewish leader who doesn't want Eskimos to mingle with Canadians because your daughter would play with them and maybe one day she comes home and wants to marry one! But sometimes the targets are obscure to an American reader 50 years afterwards.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was ... interesting, to say the least. I think I missed quite a few references while reading that fit in with its background of Canada in 1963, but most of it was inferrable.

The comments on the back and in the introduction classify it as black humour, and they are very very right. It was actually hard to stomach at times and in my opinion went a little far more than once. A lot of scenes though were very provoking and are still relevant today. Communism and an atomic war may not be a great fear anymore but the novel also addresses racism, antisemitism, the influence of corrupt and ruthless media leaders and a fear of too much influence from other countries (mostly the US).

There were scenes that made me cringe, scenes that made me laugh and scenes that made me think. It took a while though, to really get into the story. If you want a story with sympathetic characters that never once becomes risky or oversteps some lines this is not a book for you, otherwise go for it, as it is not a long novel.

[Allison Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn in by the title (I'd never heard of this Mordecai Richler book), the slim volume, & the unusual premise. It was an okay read, but nothing life-changing for me. I appreciate Mr. Richler's ability to balance multiple characters' dialogue and subplots & infuse humour into the mix, but I'm left rather underwhelmed overall.

[Ibis3]

NCL.2006-10-01

[David Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine an Inuit Conservative Party leader.

[1.1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, chaotic and sweet. A very sharp, enjoyable book – a product of its time and evidence of its author's skill, insight, and humour.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Satire that does not age well. What was funny in the sixties is not necessarily funny or witty today.

[Jeffrey Stalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long, long time ago -- long before the internet-- but I still remember it as one of the funniest books I have ever read.

[Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp, satirical humour poked at 1960s Canada and its mores and personalities. (Some of it still quite relevant!)