Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Richler, Mordecai (Vol. 185) - Ada Craniford (essay date 1992)

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Ada Craniford (essay date 1992)

SOURCE: Craniford, Ada. “Solomon Gursky Was Here: Fiction or Fact?” In Fiction and Fact in Mordecai Richler's Novels, pp. 115-35. Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.

[In the following essay, Craniford surveys the critical reaction to Solomon Gursky Was Here and investigates Richler's inspirations for the Gursky family. Craniford notes that the “most compelling quality of Richler's novel is the fact that it is based on and made out of other works of fact and fiction.”]

In Mordecai Richler's ninth novel [Solomon Gursky Was Here], the Gurskys are here there and everywhere. The book celebrates and parodies not only the Jewish contribution to world civilization and the underworld of crime, but also the central role of the artist as embroiderer of history and mythologizer of mankind. In this story, for the first time in Richler's writing, the teller and the tale are...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Rachel Feldhay Brenner (essay date 1989)
   2. Robert Fulford (review date 21 June 1992)
   3. Rick Marin (review date 6 July 1992)
   4. Harold M. Waller (review date 13 July 1992)
   5. Paul Delany (review date 20 August 1992)
   6. Andro Linklater (review date 26 September 1992)
   7. Barry Cooper (review date December 1992)
   8. Ada Craniford (essay date 1992)
   9. David Rieff (review date 30 October 1994)
   10. J. B. Kelly (review date 19 December 1994)
   11. Edward Alexander (review date January 1995)
   12. Geoffrey Wheatcroft (review date 22 January 1995)
   13. Norman Ravvin (review date winter 1996)
   14. D. J. Enright (review date 5 September 1997)
   15. Francis King (review date 4 October 1997)
   16. John Bemrose (review date 13 October 1997)
   17. Mark Schechner (review date 29 December 1997)
   18. Kerry McSweeney (review date winter 1998)
   19. Gene Lichtenstein (review date 25 January 1998)
   20. Mark Steyn (review date February 1998)
   21. Thomas R. Edwards (review date 5 March 1998)
   22. Meredith Dellandrea (review date fall 1998)
   23. Mordecai Richler and Robyn Gillam (interview date 1998)
   24. Steve Brzezinski (review date winter 1999)
   25. Branko Gorjup (review date winter 1999)
   26. Angela Robbeson (essay date winter 2001)
   27. Anthony Wilson-Smith (essay date 16 July 2001)
   28. Benoit Aubin (essay date 16 July 2001)
   29. Mark Steyn (essay date September 2001)
   30. Brian Bethune (review date 24 June 2002)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright