Edward Killoran Brown (August 15, 1905 – April 24, 1951), who wrote as E. K. Brown, was a
Canadian
Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...
professor and literary critic. He "influenced
Canadian literature
Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...
primarily through his award-winning book ''On
Canadian Poetry'' (1943),"
[ which "established the standards of excellence and many of the subsequent directions of ]Canadian
Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...
criticism." Northrop Frye
Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Frye gained international fame with his first book, ''Fearful Symmetr ...
called him "the first critic to bring Canadian literature
Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...
into its proper context".
Life
E.K. Brown was born in Toronto,[ the son of Winifred Killoran and Edward David Brown, a businessman.][W.H. New, ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002), 161–162.] He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1926, winning the Governor-General's Medal for Modern Languages and a scholarship to the Sorbonne.[Douglas Bush, E.K. Brown and the Evolution of Canadian Poetry" ''Seewanee Review,'' 87:1 (Winter 1979), 186, Web, May 13, 2011.]
Brown taught at the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
from 1929 through 1941, except for two years chairing the University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...
's English Department.[ He was an associate editor of the '' Canadian Forum'' from 1930 to 1933, and published over 50 articles in that journal.
Between 1932 and 1941 Brown was an editor of the ''University of Toronto Quarterly.'' In 1936 he began the column "Letters in Canada", an annual survey in the ''Quarterly'' of the year's crop of Canadian poetry. He left the University of Toronto in 1941 to take a position at ]Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
,[ but he continued to write "Letters in Canada" each year until 1950,][ at which time the column was taken over by Northrop Frye. Brown later used two of his "Letters in Canada" essays – "The Contemporary Situation in Canadian Literature" (1938) and "The Development of Canadian Poetry 1880-1940" (1941) – in his 1943 book, ''On Canadian Poetry.''
In 1941 Brown edited a special all-Canadian issue of prestigious ]Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
magazine ''Poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
''.[
From 1941 to 1944 Brown chaired ]Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
's English Department, except for six months on staff as a speechwriter to Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...
.[
In 1943 Brown and ]Duncan Campbell Scott
Duncan Campbell Scott (August 2, 1862 – December 19, 1947) was a Canadian civil servant and poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets.
A caree ...
edited Archibald Lampman's posthumous volume, ''At the Long Sault and Other Poems.'' Brown would also edit Scott's posthumous ''Selected Poems'' in 1951.
In 1945 Brown moved to the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
to chair its English Department.[ From 1947 to 1951 he wrote a column, "Causeries," for the '']Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...
'' in which he published almost 50 essays on literary topics.["Brown, E.K." Encyclopedia of the Essay, Custom-Essay.net, Web, May 14, 2011.] He died in 1951 of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
.[
]
Writing
''On Canadian Poetry''
Brown is best remembered for his 1943 book, ''On Canadian Poetry.'' Of that book, the '' Canadian Encyclopedia'' says that "Brown was the first modern Canadian critic to establish a context for the study of 19th- and 20th-century Canadian poetry by identifying Canada's major poets ( Archibald Lampman, D.C. Scott and E. J. Pratt), tracing their influences and closely defining the strengths of their verse."[Neil Besner, "Brown, Edward Killoran," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 288.]
Prior to the appearance of ''On Canadian Poetry,'' Sir Charles G.D. Roberts was widely considered Canada's top poet (and certainly its top Confederation Poet), followed by his cousin, Bliss Carman. Not long before the volume came out, Brown had written to Duncan Campbell Scott that "our literary history must be rewritten and some old landmarks removed." In the book he removed several forthwith. Roberts received a mere four pages, and was praised mainly as a "breaker of trails". Carman received even less space; Brown saluted "the beauty of his music," but added that his poetry "as a whole is cloying." Of the other Confederation Poets, William Wilfred Campbell was cursorily dismissed as a "minor figure," while F.G. Scott and Pauline Johnson
Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), also known by her Mohawk language, Mohawk stage name Tekahionwake (pronounced ''dageh-eeon-wageh'', ), was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and earl ...
were not mentioned at all. In contrast, Brown devoted an entire chapter each to Lampman and D.C. Scott, building his own 'landmarks.'[
Brown's revisionist ranking of the Confederation Poets – Lampman and Campbell Scott on top, Roberts and Carman underneath, and Wilfred Campbell, Johnson, and F.G. Scott not even counted – "would become widely accepted and go unchallenged for several decades.][John Coldwell Adams,]
The Whirligig of Time
," ''Confederation Voices'', Canadian Poetry, UWO.ca, Web, Mar. 28, 2011.
Recognition
Brown received a Governor General's Award for non-fiction in 1943
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
* January 4 � ...
for ''On Canadian Poetry.''
The Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
awarded E.K. Brown its Lorne Pierce Medal The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French. The medal was first ...
posthumously.
Publications
Non-fiction
* ''E.M. Forster and the contemplative novel.'' Toronto, 1934.
* ''Edith Wharton, étude critique.'' Paris: E. Droz, 1935.
* ''Studies in the Text of Matthew Arnold's Prose Works.'' Paris: P. André, 1935.
* ''Swinburne: a centennial estimate.'' Toronto: 1937.
* ''On Canadian Poetry''. Toronto: Ryerson, 1943.
* ''Matthew Arnold: A Study in Conflict''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1948.
* ''Rhythm in the Novel''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1950. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
* ''Willa Cather: A Critical Biography.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953.
* ''Responses and Evaluations: Essays on Canada.'' David Staines ed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart (New Canadian Library), 1977.
* ''The Poet and the Critic: A Literary Correspondence Between D.C. Scott and E.K. Brown.'' Robert L. McCougall ed. McGill-Queen's U P, 1983.
Translated
* Louis Cazamian, ''Carlyle''. New York: Macmillan, 1932.
* Balzac, "Père Goriot". ''Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet''. New York: Modern Library, 1946.
Edited
* Matthew Arnold, ''Representative Essays''. Toronto: Macmillan, 1936.
* ''Victorian Poetry.''. Toronto: Nelson, 1942.
* Archibald Lampman, ''At the Long Sault and Other New Poems'', Duncan Campbell Scott and E.K. Brown ed.. (Toronto: Ryerson, 1943
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
* January 4 � ...
).
* Matthew Arnold, ''Four Essays on Life and Letters''. Harlan Davidson, 1947.
* Charles Dickens ''David Copperfield''. 1950.
* Duncan Campbell Scott, ''Selected Poems'', E.K. Brown. ed. Toronto: Ryerson, 1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
.
''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Open Library.''[Search Results: E.K. Brown, Open Library, Web, May 13, 2011.]
References
External links
*
E.K. Brown
in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...
''
Edward Killoran Brown archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Record Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, E. K.
1905 births
1951 deaths
20th-century Canadian male writers
20th-century non-fiction writers
Canadian expatriates in the United States
Canadian literary critics
Canadian non-fiction writers
Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers
Literary theorists
People from Old Toronto
University of Toronto alumni
Writers from Toronto