George Elliott
George Elliott was a Canadian writer born on July 4, 1923, in London, Ontario, who made significant contributions to Southern Ontario literature. He attended the University of Toronto, where he was involved in student journalism, and later pursued a career in both journalism and advertising. Elliott's literary career began with his first fiction publication, "The Kissing Man," in 1962, which established him within the Southern Ontario gothic school of literature, alongside prominent authors like Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood. His writing is characterized by a blend of Magical Realism and Canadian cultural themes, often exploring the intricacies of rural life and community identity.
Elliott's later works included "God's Big Acre: Life in 401," which captures the essence of rural Ontario through nonfiction, and his final fiction pieces, "The Bittersweet Man" and "Crazy Water Boys," published in the 1990s. The latter novel critiques societal hypocrisy through the lens of individuals in a convalescent center. Despite a modest output, Elliott's impact on Canadian literature remains notable. He passed away in 1996 on Île d'Orléans, Quebec, leaving behind a legacy of profound storytelling that resonates with themes of memory and community.
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George Elliott
Writer
- Born: July 4, 1923
- Birthplace: London, Ontario, Canada
- Died: 1996
- Place of death: Île d'Orléans, Quebec, Canada
Biography
George Elliott was born July 4, 1923, in London, Ontario, Canada, and lived within the province for most of his life. He attended the University of Toronto, where he served as an editor for The Varsity, the college newspaper. At the outbreak of World War II, Elliott was excused from military service because of poor eyesight.
After graduation, Elliott became editor of the Strathroy Age-Dispatch and acted as local correspondent for the London (Canada) Free Press. He later worked as reporter and city editor at the Timmins Daily Press, and as local correspondent for the Toronto Daily Star. Elliott eventually left journalism and entered advertising, where he rose to become an executive.
In 1962, Elliott published his first work of fiction, The Kissing Man, a series of eleven linked short stories set in an unnamed rural community in southern Ontario (based on the real-life town of Strathroy, situated between London and Sarnia in the southwestern corner of the province). The work immediately placed Elliott into the exclusive southern Ontario gothic school of literature, joining the likes of Alice Munro, Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, and others. Practitioners of the school focus on Magical Realism, a genre that blends mundane, everyday life with elements from fairy tales, fables, and similar fantastic or surrealistic devices—but does not enter the realm of fantasy—while giving their work a peculiarly Canadian twist. In the case of Elliott, “The Kissing Man” is an allegorical stranger who shows up in a village and, by kissing women at random, serves as a catalyst for evoking memories that highlight the symbols, rituals, characters, and traditions that denote the essence of a place over time.
After The Kissing Man, Elliott published little—except for occasional poems (in the literary magazine New Quarterly) and a single short story (in Canadian Forum)—until 1986, when he collaborated with photographer John Reeves on God’s Big Acre: Life in 401. Like his fiction, Elliott’s nonfiction text evokes rural Ontario life, focusing on individual farmers and truckers, shopkeepers, and factory workers that constitute the backbone of a community.
Elliott again fell silent, until, perhaps sensing the end, he broke forth with a last creative burst late in life. He published a second collection of short stories, The Bittersweet Man, in 1994, and released his final work and magnum opus, Crazy Water Boys, the following year. The latter, a biting though humorous novel, concerns the inhabitants of a closed community—a convalescent center for recovering alcoholics—who discuss their lives leading up to their rehabilitation and in the process expose the hypocrisies that make society at large seem as diseased and as alienated as those who are drying out.
George Elliott, who managed to leave a large and lasting impression through a relatively small body of written work, died in Île d’Orléans, Quebec, Canada, in 1996.