Bilingual Autobiographical Poetry of Henry Beissel

The book is the first academic study of Henry Beissel’s bilingual poetic autobiography. The Canadian poet going back through memories to his childhood in Nazi Germany, wrote a long poem in English and reinterpreted it in German - his mother tongue, neglected for decades. The study offers a comparative reading of the two distinctly different versions of the poem, juxtaposing various perspectives, voices and recollections. Beissel’s bilingual project is depicted as ＂memory workshop＂, that mediates between cultures. The work examines Beissel’s biography and the theories of memory, autobiography and bilingualism. It refers to metafiction, the poetic child’s figure and writing trauma, as well as explores poetic complexities of memory and identity.

Paulina Katarzyna Nowak-Kurzyna holds a PhD in Literature from the University of Szczecin (Poland) and is the member of Polish Association for Canadian Studies. Her academic interests focus on poetry, Canadian literature, bilingualism, memory studies and autobiographical writing.