Patrick Anderson (poet)
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Patrick John MacAllister Anderson (4 August 1915 – 17 March 1979) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
-
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
poet.Patrick Anderson's
entry in
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...
.
He was educated at
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he was elected President of the Union, and
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
. He taught in Montreal at Selwyn House School from 1940 to 1946 and at
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...
between 1948 and 1950. One of his students at both schools was Charles Taylor. In March 1942 Anderson and
Montreal Group The Montreal Group, sometimes referred to as the McGill Group or McGill Movement,Dean Irvine,Montreal Group" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian History''. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011. was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-192 ...
poet F. R. Scott founded Montreal literary magazine ''Preview''; A.M. Klein and
P. K. Page Patricia Kathleen Page, (23 November 1916 – 14 January 2010) was a British-born Canadian poet,Peter ScowenP.K. Page dies at age 93 '' The Globe and Mail'', 14 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010. though the citation as she was inducted as ...
also became part of the editorial group. According to
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...
, "''Preview's'' orientation was
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; its members looked largely towards the English poets of the 1930s for inspiration."George Woodcock,
Northern Review
," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1515.
In 1943, critic John Sutherland published a review of Anderson's poetry in rival magazine ''
First Statement ''First Statement'' was a Canadian literary magazine published in Montreal, Quebec from 1942 to 1945. During its short life the magazine, along with its rival publication ''Preview'' with which it often shared contributors, provided one of the few ...
'' which suggested
homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homo ...
themes in his writing, and accusing Anderson of "some sexual experience of a kind not normal"; although Anderson would in fact come out as
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
later in life, he was married at the time to Peggy Doernbach, and threatened to sue. John Barton and
Billeh Nickerson Billeh Nickerson (born February 14, 1972) is a Canadian writer, editor, performer, producer and arts advocate. Personal life Nickerson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, grew up in Langley, British Columbia, lived in Toronto, Ontario, and currently ...
, eds. ''Seminal: The Anthology of Canada's Gay Male Poets''.
Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as ...
, 2007. .
Sutherland printed a retraction in the following issue. The incident was little known outside of Montreal at the time, as both magazines had small, primarily local circulations, although it would come to be more extensively analyzed in the 1990s as an important incident in the history of LGBT literature in Canada. Anderson and Doernbach were members of the
Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 federal election, the Communist Party led a popular front in se ...
, and were active supporters of Labour-Progressive MP Fred Rose. ''Preview'' merged with ''First Statement'' in 1945 to become ''
Northern Review ''Northern Review'' was a Montreal-based literary magazine published in Canada between 1945 and 1956. It resulted from the merger between two earlier magazines, ''Preview (Canadian magazine), Preview'' and ''First Statement'', both of which were als ...
''. William H. New, ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), p. 729 (entry
McGill Movement
). .
Following his divorce from Doernbach in 1950, Anderson left Canada, teaching for two years in
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
before returning to England. He subsequently entered into a same-sex relationship with Alistair Sutherland, with whom he co-edited ''Eros: An Anthology of Male Friendship'' in 1961; William H. New, ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. p. 21 (entry "Patrick Anderson"). . in this era, he also published memoirs and travel writing. Despite this, he continued to treat his sexuality as a private matter, declining inclusion in an anthology of gay male literature in 1972.Brian Trehearne, ''The Montreal Forties: Modernist Poetry in Transition''.
University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...
, 1999. .
He remained a resident of England for the rest of his life, although he sometimes returned to Canada in the 1970s as a guest lecturer; his final volume of poetry, published in 1977, was titled ''Return to Canada''.


Selected bibliography

*1943: ''Military Camp'' *1945: ''A Tent for April'' *1946: ''The White Centre'' *1953: ''The Colour as Naked'' *1955: ''Snake Wine: A Singapore Episode'' *1957: ''Search Me'' *1961: ''Eros: An Anthology of Male Friendship'' *1964: ''The Smile of Apollo: A Literary Companion to Greek Travel'' *1969: ''Over the Alps: Reflections on Travel and Travel Writing'' *1976: ''A Visiting Distance - Poems: New, Revised, And Selected'' *1977: ''Return to Canada''


See also

*
Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both g ...
*
Canadian poetry Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigenou ...
*
List of Canadian poets This is a list of Canadian poets. Years link to corresponding " earin poetry" articles. A *Mark Abley (born 1955), poet, journalist, editor, and non-fiction writer. *Milton Acorn (1923–1986), poet, writer, and playwright * José Acqueli ...
* List of Canadian writers


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Patrick 1915 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male poets 20th-century English poets Canadian memoirists English memoirists Canadian travel writers English travel writers Writers from Montreal Gay poets Gay memoirists McGill University faculty Canadian magazine editors British emigrants to Canada People from Ashtead Canadian LGBT poets English male poets Presidents of the Oxford Union Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association Canadian male non-fiction writers English male non-fiction writers Gay academics 20th-century memoirists 20th-century English male writers English LGBT poets 20th-century LGBT people