Biography

Louis Dudek was born in Montreal on February 6, 1918. He attained a BA from McGill, completed his PhD at Columbia University in New York, and subsequently took a teaching position at McGill. With Raymond Souster and Irving Layton, Dudek founded Contact Press, which was a major poetry publisher in the fifties and sixties in Montreal. Dudek went on to found CIV/n, the little magazine Delta, and The McGill Poetry Series, which helped establish the reputations of emerging poets like Leonard Cohen. His extensive creative and critical publications and editions speak to the immense influence Dudek exercised during his active literary career.

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Publications

The Searching Image.  Toronto: Ryerson, 1952.

Twenty-Four Poems.  Toronto: Contact P, 1952.

Europe.  Toronto: Laocoon P, 1954.

The Transparent Sea.  Toronto: Contact P, 1956.

En México.  Toronto: Contact P, 1958.

Laughing Stalks.  Toronto: Contact P, 1958.

Atlantis.  Montreal: Delta Canada, 1967.

Collected Poetry.  Montreal: Delta Canada, 1971.

All Kinds of Everything.  Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1973.

The Green Beyond: Poems.  Phonodisc.  Toronto: CBC Publications, 1973.

Epigrams.  Montreal: DC Books, 1975.

Selected Poems.  Ottawa: Golden Dog P, 1975.

Autumn.  Calgary: Poetry Goes Public, 1978.

Cross Section: Poems 1940-1980.  Toronto, Ontario: Coach House P, 1980.

Continuation 1.  Montréal: Vehicule P, 1981.

Ideas for Poetry.  Montréal: Vehicule P, 1983.

Zembla's Rocks.  Montréal: Vehicule P, 1986.

Infinite Worlds: the Poetry of Louis Dudek.  Ed. Robin Blaser.  Montréal: Vehicule P, 1988.

Small Perfect Things.  Montréal: DC Books, 1991.

Continuation II.  Montréal: Vehicule P, 1990.

Europe.  Revised Edition.  Erin, Ont.: Porcupine's Quill, 1991.

1941 Diary.  Ed. Aileen Collins.  Montréal: Empyreal P, 1996.

The Caged Tiger.  Montreal: Empyreal P, 1997.

The Poetry of Louis Dudek.  Kemptville, Ont.: Golden Dog P, 1998.

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Critical Materials

Book Length

Beutler, Bernhard.  Der Einfluss des Imagismus auf die moderne kanadische Lyrik englischer 
Sprache. Europaische Hochschulschriften XIV 57.  Frankfort: Lang, 1978.

Davey, Frank.  Louis Dudek & Raymond Souster.  Studies in Canadian Literature 14.  Vancouver: 
Douglas & MacIntyre, 1980.

Louis Dudek: Texts & Essays.  Ed. Frank Davey and bpNichol.  Toronto: Open Letter, 1981.

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Articles

Blaser, Robin.  "Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis Dudek."  Sagetrieb: A Journal Devoted to Poets 
in the Imagist/Objectivist Tradition 7.1 (1988): 17-38.

"Committed to Excellence: Louis Dudek is an Apostle of High Culture and Hard Work."  Books in 
Canada 22.8 (1993): 7-12.

Darling, Michael.  "An Interview with Louis Dudek."  Essays on Canadian Writing 3 (1975): 2-14.

Francis, Wynne.  "A Critic of Life: Louis Dudek as Man of Letters."  Canadian Literature 22 
(1964): 5-23.

Goldie, Terry.  "Louis Dudek (1918-  )."  ECW’s Biographical Guide to Canadian Poets.  Eds. 
Robert Lecker, et al.  Toronto: ECW, 1993.  155-59.

Goldie, Terry.  "Louis Dudek."  Canadian Writers and Their Works.  Eds. George Woodcock, et al. 
Toronto: ECW P, 1985.  75-139.

Heenan, J. Michael H. and John Nause.  "An Interview with Louis Dudek."  Tamarack Review 69 
(1976): 30-43.

Livesay, Dorothy.  "The Sculpture of Poetry: On Louis Dudek."  Canadian Literature 30 (1966): 
26-35.

Vulpe, Nicola.  "Dudek on Frye or, Not a Poet's Poetics."  Canadian Literature 136 (1993): 101-
12.

Whiteman, Bruce.  "Contact in Context: the Press and its Time."  West Coast Line 25.2 (1991): 
11-27.

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University of Calgary Information

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Internet Links

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Miscellaneous

Dudek, Louis, et al.  Cerberus: Poems.  Toronto: Contact Press, 1952.

Dudek, Louis and Irving Layton, eds.  Canadian Poems, 1850-1952.  Toronto: Contact Press, 1953.

Dudek, Louis.  Literature and the Press: a History of Printing, Printed Media, and their Relation to 
Literature.  Toronto: Ryerson, 1960.

Dudek, Louis, ed.  Poetry of our Time: an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Poetry, Including Modern 
Canadian Poetry.  Toronto: Macmillan, 1966.

Dudek, Louis.  The First Person in Literature.  CBC Broadcast CBC.  Toronto: Canadian 
Broadcasting Corporation, 1967.

Dudek, Louis, et al.  Dk/ Some letters of Ezra Pound.  Ed. Louis Dudek.  Montreal: DC Books, 
1974.

Dudek, Louis.  Selected Essays and Criticism.  Ottawa: The Tecumseh P, 1978.

Dudek, Louis.  Technology & Culture: Six Lectures.  Ottawa: Golden Dog P, 1979.

Dudek, Louis.  The Theory of the Image in Modern Poetry.  The Pratt lecture 1979.  St. John's, 
Nfld.: Memorial U of Newfoundland, 1981.

Dudek, Louis, et al.  A Real Good Goosin': Talking Poetics.  Montreal: Maker P, 1980-1985

Dudek, Louis.  In Defence of Art: Critical Essays & Reviews.  Ed. Aileen Collins.  Kingston, Ont.: 
Quarry P, 1988.

Dudek, Louis.  Paradise: Essays on Myth, Art and Reality.  Montreal: Vehicule P, 1992.

Dudek, Louis and Michael Gnarowski, eds.  The Making of Modern Poetry in Canada: Essential 
Articles on Contemporary Canadian Poetry in English.  Toronto: Ryerson, 1967.

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