Paul Hiebert
Paul Gerhardt Hiebert (1892-1987) was a Canadian academic and author, born to Russian immigrant parents in Manitoba. He had a diverse educational background, earning degrees in philosophy, philology, physics, and chemistry, culminating in a Ph.D. from McGill University. Hiebert taught chemistry at the University of Manitoba for many years before retiring to Carman, Manitoba. Although he had a distinguished academic career, he is perhaps best known for his satirical literary work, "Sarah Binks" (1939), which humorously critiques the literary establishment through a fictional biography of a comically inept poet. This work received significant acclaim, winning the Stephen Leacock Memorial Award and inspiring adaptations in various media. Hiebert also published a sequel, "Willows Revisited" (1967), and three nonfiction works that explore the intersection of faith and science, highlighting his deep philosophical reflections on spirituality. His contributions reflect a blend of humor and thoughtful engagement with serious themes, appealing to a wide audience.
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Paul Hiebert
Author
- Born: July 17, 1892
- Birthplace: Pilot Mound, Manitoba, Canada
- Died: September 6, 1987
Biography
Paul Gerhardt Hiebert was born in 1892 in Pilot Mound, Manitoba, Canada, to Russian immigrants John and Maria Penner Hiebert. Hiebert worked as a farmhand, cub reporter, and teacher in his rural plains town before enrolling at the University of Manitoba, where he earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1916. He went on to earn an M.A. in Gothic and Teutonic philology from the University of Toronto in 1917. His second master’s degree, an M.Sc. in physics and chemistry, came from McGill University in 1921, where he also earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1924, winning the Governor General’s Medal for science the same year. Hiebert married Dorothea Cunningham in 1926 and was a professor of chemistry at the University of Manitoba until 1953, when he retired and moved to Carman, Manitoba.
Despite his academic career in chemistry, Hiebert’s lasting reputation is based on his book Sarah Binks (1939), a satirical literary biography of the fictitious Binks, purportedly Saskatchewan’s greatest poet. In Sarah Binks, Hiebert skewers the literary and academic establishment by writing a fawning, farcical “biography” of the hilariously awful poet, Binks. Hiebert includes an outlandish personal history for Binks, sentimental and hyperbolic criticism of her poetry, wry and satirical example poems, and humorous footnotes. The sober and pompous tone of the “study” wittily contrasts with its absurd subject matter. As evidence of the book’s lasting fame, it inspired a radio adaptation in 1948, a musical stage version in 1968, and a one-man show in 1981. Sarah Binks won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Award for the best Canadian book of humor in 1947.
Hiebert followed the success of Sarah Binks with a sequel, Willows Revisited (1967), which took satirical aim at the celebration of Canada centennial. Although the book successfully parodied many aspects of Canadian life, including the familiar intellectual follies in a vein similar to Sarah Binks, Willows Revisited never achieved the acclaim or success of the former, and critics found its humor inconsistent. Hiebert was more successful with his three nonfiction books, Tower in Siloam (1966), Doubting Castle: A Spiritual Autobiography (1976), and Not as the Scribes (1984), which are personal philosophic meditations on reconciling religious faith in a scientific universe. In these reflective books, Hiebert affirms the possibility of belief in a loving, Christian God with philosophic sophistication and touching personal introspection.