The Metaphor of Celebrity

"I highly recommend The Metaphor of Celebrity, a fascinating, well-researched, thoughtful, and historically significant book on a vital period of Canadian poetry. This study is a major contribution to research, advancing an important and timely dialogue that will have implications for further study of modernist poetry and Canadian poetry in general. It is also immensely readable, and I am eager to talk about it among my colleagues." -- Priscila Uppal, Department of English, York University "The Metaphor of Celebrity is an invaluable source for contextualizing and assessing the work of four major Canadian writers. Joel Deshaye makes evident the elevating and enervating qualities of celebrity, and with his attention to their crucial shaping of the presentation and reception of Canadian literature between the mid-1950s and early 1980s, he creates a vital historical lens through which we can view contemporary Canadian concerns with cultural identity." -- J.A. Wainwright, Department of English, Dalhousie University

The Metaphor of Celebrity is an exploration of the significance of literary celebrity in Canadian poetry.

The Metaphor of Celebrity is an exploration of the significance of literary celebrity in Canadian poetry. It focuses on the lives and writing of four widely recognized authors who wrote about stardom – Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Irving Layton, and Gwendolyn MacEwen – and the specific moments in Canadian history that affected the ways in which they were received by the broader public.

Joel Deshaye elucidates the relationship between literary celebrity and metaphor in the identity crises of celebrities, who must try to balance their public and private selves in the face of considerable publicity. He also examines the ways in which celebrity in Canadian poetry developed in a unique way in light of the significant cultural events of the decades between 1950 and 1980, including the Massey Commission, the flourishing of Canadian publishing, and the considerable interest in poetry in the 1960s and 1970s, which was followed by a rapid fall from public grace, as poetry was overwhelmed by greater popular interest in Canadian novels.