George Woodcock

Biography

Drawing of George Woodock

 Editor, poet, critic, travel writer, historian, philosopher, essayist, biographer, autobiographer, political activist, university lecturer, librettist, humanitarian, gardener…George Woodcock seemed entitled to wear almost as many hats as there are works to his credit—which stand at somewhere between 120 and 150, not including the radio and TV plays, documentaries and speeches.

Worldwide, he is most well known for his books on the philosophy of anarchism and its history, and for his well-received biography,The Crystal Spirit, on his friend George Orwell. From a national perspective, he was a literary champion, founding the journal Canadian Literature in 1959, finally passing on its editorship eighteen years later. The journal was the first of its kind, and it provided a much-needed place for the exploration and celebration of the works of Canadian literary authors.

George Woodcock was first and foremost a Canadian, born May 8th, 1912, in Winnipeg. He didn’t remain in Canada for long: his parents—unable to scrape up a decent living in the colonies—returned with him to England, where he was to spend the next 3 and a half decades. As a child, he lived scarcely above the poverty line, and attended grammar school; he brought his formal education to a halt when he declined to go to Oxford on a partial scholarship, on the grounds that he would have to join the clergy.

He entered the workforce, obtaining a job as a clerk for the Great Western Railway, where he eagerly began to educate himself—and to write. In London, George socialized with many of the writers and intellectuals of the day, including Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Herbert Read and T.S. Eliot, to name a few. He became interested in anarchism, and leftist politics in general, devoting much of his work to those subjects.

With the advent of World War II, G.W. resisted enlistment on the basis of his belief that violence was intrinsically wrong, and spent the duration of the war doing farmwork. George married his wife, Ingeborg, in Germany. In 1949, they immigrated to Canada, first residing in Sooke, on Vancouver Island, where they were unsuccessful in making a living as market gardeners. Friends helped them to relocate to Vancouver, where they remained—eventually purchasing a house in Kerrisdale. Around this time, George was writing for the CBC, and had penned the first of a number of travel books, Ravens and Prophets (1952).

In 1955, G.W. became involved with the University of British Columbia, lecturing in the English Department beginning in 1956, and teaching a course on the European Novel in Translation. At this point in his life, he was producing several books a year, as well as many articles and monographs. In 1966, he received the Governor General’s Award for The Crystal Spirit. He taught at the university into the 1970s, and was awarded an honourary DLitt by UBC in 1977 (he received 5 other honourary degrees from other universities). He refused many awards, including the prestigious Order of Canada, choosing to accept only those given by his colleagues and peers.

As well as writing extensively on Canada and British Columbia, George Woodcock focused much of his attention on what was going on in the rest of the world. After the Chinese takeover of Tibet, he became interested in the plight of the Tibetans. Travelling to India, he and his wife studied Buddhism and established a friendship with the Dalai Lama. Together, George and Ingeborg founded the Tibetan Refugee Aid Society; later came the Canada India Village Aid Society. But the couple’s generosity didn’t stop there: they created—out of their life savings—an emergency fund to assist Canadian writers in need.

Despite his deteriorating health, G.W. continued to pursue his writing career in the 80s and into the 90s, though not producing to the same degree as he did in the decades before. He published the third installment of his autobiography, and The Cherry Tree on Cherry Street and Other Poems, which was to be his last book of poetry (1994). In 1994, Vancouver’s mayor declared May 7th as George Woodcock Day, and awarded G.W. the Freedom of the City. Although George accepted this honour, he was unable to attend the festivities, which included the largest gathering of authors in Western Canada (Margaret Atwood read out his speech), a gallery showing of new art created in his honour, and a 2-day symposium to celebrate his lifetime work at Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus. Less than a year later, George Woodcock died at his home, at age 82, on January 28th, 1995.

E-book

George Woodcock: Collected editorials from Canadian Literature

Canadian Literature proudly presents our first ebook: George Woodcock: Collected editorials from Canadian Literature.

Compiled and edited by Canadian Literature’s Glenn Deer (Associate Editor) and Matthew Gruman (Marketing and Communications), this collection contains all the editorials George Woodcock wrote during his tenure as editor and Balancing the Yin and the Yang, written as a guest editorial in 1992.

Also included are Alan Twigg’s In Praise of an Omnivorous Intelligence and Glenn Deer’s Alive to Unfashionable Possibilities: Reading Woodcock’s Collected Editorials—two tributes written specifically for this edition.

George Woodcock: Collected editorials from Canadian Literature is available in the EPUB (list of supported devices) and PDF formats.

Canadian Literature wishes to establish no clan, little or large. It will not adopt a narrowly academic approach, nor will it try to restrict its pages to any school of criticism or any class of writers. It is published by a university, but many of its present and future contributors live and work outside academic circles, and long may they continue to do so, for the independent men and women of letters are the solid core of any mature literature. Good writing, writing that says something fresh and valuable on literature in Canada is what we seek, no matter where it originates. It can be in English or in French, and it need not necessarily be by Canadians, since we intend to publish the views of writers from south of the border or east of the Atlantic, who can observe what is being produced here from an external and detached viewpoint.”

—George Woodcock, First Issue of Canadian Literature (1959).

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Table of Contents

  1. In Praise of an Omnivorous Intelligence by Alan Twigg
  2. Alive to Unfashionable Possibilities: Reading Woodcock’s Collected Editorials by Glenn Deer
  3. First Issue of Canadian Literature. Canadian Literature #1, Summer 1959
  4. Aeropagitica re-written. Canadian Literature #2, Autumn 1959
  5. A Time of Projects. Canadian Literature #3, Winter 1960
  6. On the Cultivation of Laurels. Canadian Literature #4, Spring 1960
  7. Summer Thought. Canadian Literature #5, Summer 1960
  8. Honours and Awards. Canadian Literature #6, Autumn 1960
  9. A Record Writ in Air. Canadian Literature #7, Winter 1961
  10. Under Seymour Mountain. Canadian Literature #8, Spring 1961
  11. Shoots from an Old Tree. Canadian Literature #9, Summer 1961
  12. The Muse of Politics. Canadian Literature #10, Autumn 1961
  13. Remote Reflections. Canadian Literature #11, Winter 1962
  14. Reflections in the Chartroom. Canadian Literature #12, Spring 1962
  15. Celebrations of Harvest. Canadian Literature #13, Summer 1962
  16. Cautious Inevitability. Canadian Literature #14, Autumn 1962
  17. Smith’s Hundred. Canadian Literature #15, Winter 1963
  18. Salt and Savour. Canadian Literature #16, Spring 1963
  19. A Spectre is Haunting Canada. Canadian Literature #17, Summer 1963
  20. A Commonwealth of Literatures. Canadian Literature #18, Autumn 1963
  21. Titanic, but Not Olympian. Canadian Literature #19, Winter 1964
  22. Problems of Equilibrium. Canadian Literature #20, Spring 1964
  23. On the Divide. Canadian Literature #21, Summer 1964
  24. Uncommercial Voices. Canadian Literature #22, Autumn 1964
  25. Surveyors and Natural Historians. Canadian Literature #23, Winter 1965
  26. Canadian Biography. Canadian Literature #24, Spring 1965
  27. Trans-Pacific Greetings: Meanjin‘s 100th Issue. Canadian Literature #25, Summer 1965
  28. Biographical First Fruits. Canadian Literature #28, Spring 1966
  29. Paperbacks and Respectable Pickpockets. Canadian Literature #29, Summer 1966
  30. George Kuthan. Canadian Literature #30, Autumn 1966
  31. Canadian Literature and the Centennial. Canadian Literature #31, Winter 1967
  32. To Other Editors. Canadian Literature #32, Spring 1967
  33. Preface to a Symposium. Canadian Literature #33, Summer 1967
  34. Expanding Vistas. Canadian Literature #34, Autumn 1967
  35. About Biographies. Canadian Literature #36, Spring 1968
  36. Awards and Initiatives. Canadian Literature #37, Summer 1968
  37. World in Microcosm. Canadian Literature #38, Autumn 1968
  38. Momaco Revisited. Canadian Literature #35, Winter 1968
  39. Centrifugal Publishing. Canadian Literature #39, Winter 1969
  40. Sparrows and Eagles. Canadian Literature #40, Spring 1969
  41. Getting away with Survival. Canadian Literature #41, Summer 1969
  42. An Absence of Utopias. Canadian Literature #42, Autumn 1969
  43. Arts in the Politician’s Eye. Canadian Literature #43, Winter 1970
  44. The Absorption of Echoes. Canadian Literature #44, Spring 1970
  45. Permutations of Politics. Canadian Literature #45, Summer 1970
  46. The Frontiers of Literature. Canadian Literature #46, Autumn 1970
  47. New Directions in Publishing. Canadian Literature #47, Winter 1971
  48. New Trends in Publishing (2). Canadian Literature #48, Spring 1971
  49. Criticism and Other Arts. Canadian Literature #49, Summer 1971
  50. Swarming of Poets. Canadian Literature #50, Autumn 1971
  51. The Craft of History. Canadian Literature #51, Winter 1972
  52. Give The Corporation a Compass!. Canadian Literature #52, Spring 1972
  53. Or Every Bellows Burst… Canadian Literature #53, Summer 1972
  54. Limits of Taste and Tolerance. Canadian Literature #54, Autumn 1972
  55. Horizon of Survival. Canadian Literature #55, Winter 1973
  56. Periodical Precariousness. Canadian Literature #56, Spring 1973
  57. Publishing Present. Canadian Literature #57, Summer 1973
  58. New-Old Critics. Canadian Literature #58, Autumn 1973
  59. Trapping the Bird of Love. Canadian Literature #59, Winter 1974
  60. How a Land Grows Old. Canadian Literature #60, Spring 1974
  61. When Did it All Begin?. Canadian Literature #61, Summer 1974
  62. Premonitions of Mrs. Porter. Canadian Literature #62, Autumn 1974
  63. Changing Patrons. Canadian Literature #63, Winter 1975
  64. Tasting the Castalian Waters. Canadian Literature #64, Spring 1975
  65. Victories and Farewells. Canadian Literature #65, Summer 1975
  66. Valedictions. Canadian Literature #66, Autumn 1975
  67. Manners of Criticism. Canadian Literature #67, Winter 1976
  68. Maritime Cadences. Canadian Literature #68-69, Spring/Summer 1976
  69. Historians and Biographers. Canadian Literature #70, Autumn 1976
  70. Pride of Place and Past. Canadian Literature #71, Winter 1976
  71. Playing Favorites. Canadian Literature #72, Spring 1977
  72. Massey’s Harvest. Canadian Literature #73, Summer 1977
  73. Balancing the Yin and the Yang. Canadian Literature #133, Summer 1992

George Woodcock’s Editorials