F. R. Scott
- Lorne Pierce Medal (1962)
- Molson Prize (1965–1966)
- Governor General's Award (1977; 1981)
- Bishop's University
- Magdalen College, Oxford
- McGill University
- H. A. Smith
- R. H. Tawney
- Law
- political science
- Francisco Cuevas Cancino [es]
- Layton Fergusson
- Ismail Suny [id]
Francis Reginald Scott CC QC FRSC FBA (1899–1985), commonly known as Frank Scott or F. R. Scott, was a lawyer, Canadian poet, intellectual, and constitutional scholar. He helped found the first Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and its successor, the New Democratic Party. He won Canada's top literary prize, the Governor General's Award, twice, once for poetry and once for non-fiction. He was married to artist Marian Dale Scott.
Life and work
Scott was born on August 1, 1899, in Quebec City, the sixth of seven children. His father was Frederick George Scott, "an Anglican priest, minor poet and staunch advocate of the civilizing tradition of imperial Britain, who instilled in his son a commitment to serve mankind, a love for the regenerative balance of the Laurentian landscape and a firm respect for the social order."[1] He witnessed the riots in the city during the Conscription Crisis of 1917.
Completing his undergraduate studies at Bishop's University, in Lennoxville, Quebec, Scott went to Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar and was influenced by the Christian socialist ideas of R. H. Tawney and the Student Christian Movement.
Scott returned to Canada, settled in Montreal, studied law at McGill University, and eventually joined the law faculty as a professor. While at McGill, Scott became a member of the Montreal Group of modernist poets, a circle that also included Leon Edel, John Glassco, and A. J. M. Smith.[2] Scott and Smith became lifelong friends.[1] Scott contributed to the McGill Daily Literary Supplement, which Smith edited; when that folded in 1925, he and Smith founded and edited the McGill Fortnightly Review. After the Review folded, Scott helped found and briefly co-edited The Canadian Mercury.[citation needed] Scott, assisted by Smith and Leo Kennedy, also anonymously edited the modernist poetry anthology New Provinces (in which he published ten poems), which was published in 1936.[3]
The Great Depression greatly disturbed Scott; he founded the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) with the historian Frank Underhill to advocate socialist solutions in a Canadian context. Through the LSR, Scott became an influential figure in the Canadian socialist movement. He was a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and a contributor to that party's Regina Manifesto. He also edited a book advocating Social Planning for Canada (1935).[1] In 1943, he co-authored Make This Your Canada, which spelled out the CCF national programme, with David Lewis. Scott was elected national chairman of the CCF in 1942, and would serve until 1950.[1]
In March 1942 Scott co-founded a literary magazine, Preview, with the Montreal poet Patrick Anderson. Like the earlier Montreal Group publications, "Preview's orientation was cosmopolitan; its members looked largely towards the English poets of the 1930s for inspiration."[4]
In 1950–1951, Scott cofounded Recherches sociales, a study group concerned with French–English relations. He began translating French-Canadian poetry.[1]
In 1952, he served as a United Nations technical assistance resident representative in Burma to help build a socialist state in that country.[1]
During the 1950s, Scott was an active opponent of the Maurice Duplessis regime in Quebec and went to court to fight the Padlock Law. He also represented Frank Roncarrelli, a Jehovah's Witness, in Roncarelli v Duplessis all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, a battle that Duplessis lost.
Scott began translating French-Canadian poetry and published Anne Hébert and Saint-Denys Garneau in 1962. He edited Poems of French Canada (1977), which won the Canada Council prize for translation.
Scott served as dean of law at McGill University from 1961 to 1964 and served on the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. In 1970. he was offered a seat in the Senate of Canada by Pierre Trudeau. Although he declined the appointment, he supported Trudeau's imposition of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis same year.
Scott opposed Quebec's Bill 22 and Bill 101, which established the province within its jurisdiction as an officially-unilingual province within an officially-bilingual country.
After his death on January 30, 1985, Scott was interred in Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal.
Recognition
Scott won the 1977 Governor General's Award for non-fiction for his Essays on the Constitution and the 1981 Governor General's Award for poetry for his Collected Poems.[5]
The Royal Society of Canada elected Scott a fellow in 1947 and awarded him its Lorne Pierce Medal in 1962.[5]
Scott won the Molson Prize in 1965.[5]
In 1966, Scott received an honorary doctorate from Sir George Williams University, which later became Concordia University.[6]
Leonard Cohen added music to Scott's villanelle, "A Villanelle for Our Time," and recorded it on his album Dear Heather.
Scott is the subject of a number of critical works, as well as a major biography, The Politics of the Imagination: A Life of F. R. Scott by Sandra Djwa.
Publications
Poetry
- Overture. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1945.
- Events and Signals. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1954.
- The Eye of the Needle: Satire, Sorties, Sundries. Montreal: Contact Press, 1957.
- Signature. Vancouver: Klanak Press, 1964.
- Selected Poems. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1966.
- Trouvailles: Poems from Prose. Montreal: Delta Canada, 1967.
- The Dance Is One. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973.
- The Collected Poems of F. R. Scott. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1981.
Translations
- St-Denys Garneau & Anne Hebert: Translations/Traductions. Translated by F. R. Scott. Vancouver: Klanak Press, 1962.
- Poems of French Canada. Translated by F. R. Scott. Burnaby, BC: Blackfish Press, 1977.
Except where indicated, bibliographical information on poetry courtesy of Canadian Poetry Online.[7]
Non-fiction
- Social Reconstruction and the B.N.A. Act – 1934
- Labour Conditions in the Men's Clothing Industry – 1935 (with H. M. Cassidy)
- Social Planning for Canada – 1935.[1]
- Canada Today: A Study of Her National Interests and National Policy – 1938
- Canada's Role in World Affairs – 1942
- Make This Your Canada: A Review of C.C.F. History and Policy – 1943 (with David Lewis)
- Cooperation for What? United States and British Commonwealth – 1944
- The World War Against Poverty – 1953 (with R. A. MacKay and A. E. Ritchie)
- What Does Labour Need in a Bill of Rights – 1959
- The Canadian Constitution and Human Rights – 1959
- Civil Liberties and Canadian Federalism – 1959
- Dialogue sur la traduction – 1970 (with Anne Hebert)
- Essays on the Constitution: Aspects of Canadian Law and Politics – 1977
- Scott, Frank R. (1986). A New Endeavour: Selected Political Essays, Letters, and Addresses. Edited and introduced by Michiel Horn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5672-5.
Edited
- New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors (with A. J. M. Smith and Leo Kennedy). Toronto: Macmillan, 1936.
- The Blasted Pine: An Anthology of Satire, Invective and Disrespectful Verse – 1957 (with A. J. M. Smith)
Discography
- Six Montreal Poets. New York: Folkways Records, 1957. Includes A. J. M. Smith, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, and A. M. Klein. (cassette, 60 mins)
- Canadian Poets on Tape. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1969, 1971. (cassette, 30 mins)
- A Poetry Reading. Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1982. (cassette, 60 mins)
- Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD London, Ontario: Canadian Poetry Association — 1999 ISBN 1-55253-022-1 (CD#4) (with James Reaney )
Except where noted, discographical information courtesy Canadian Poetry Online.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Keith Richardson, "Scott, Francis Reginald (Frank)," Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1961.
- ^ Dean Irvine, "Montreal Group," Oxford Companion to Canadian History. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011.
- ^ Michael Gnarowski, "New Provinces: Poems of Several Authors," Canadian Encyclopedia (Hurtig: Edmonton, 1988), 1479.
- ^ George Woodcock, "Northern Review," Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1515.
- ^ a b c "F.R. Scott: Biography Archived 2014-08-25 at the Wayback Machine," Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, March 21, 2011.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Citation – Francis Reginald Scott* | Concordia University Archives". archives.concordia.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
- ^ a b "F.R. Scott: Publications Archived 2013-04-08 at the Wayback Machine," Canadian Poetry Online, UToronto.ca, Web, May 7, 2011.
External links
- University of Calgary biography
- Canadian Poetry Online: F.R. Scott Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine – 6 poems (Lakeshore, Laurentian Shield, The Canadian Authors Meet, A Grain of Rice, W.L.M.K., Resurrection)
- http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/scott_fr/pub.htm Archived 2013-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Archives of F.R. Scott (Francis Reginald Scott fonds, R5822) are held at Library and Archives Canada
Party political offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | National Chairman of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation 1942–1950 | Succeeded by |
Academic offices | ||
Preceded by Maxwell Cohen | Dean of Law at McGill University 1961–1964 | Succeeded by Maxwell Cohen |
Awards | ||
Preceded by | Lorne Pierce Medal 1962 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Molson Prize 1965–1966 With: Jean Gascon | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Thomas Beattie Roberton, TBR: Newspaper Pieces (1936)
- Stephen Leacock, My Discovery of the West (1937)
- John Murray Gibbon, Canadian Mosaic (1938)
- Laura Salverson, Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter (1939)
- J. F. C. Wright, Slava Bohu (1940)
- Emily Carr, Klee Wyck (1941)
- Bruce Hutchison, The Unknown Country (1942)
- Edgar McInnis, The Unguarded Frontier (1942)
- E. K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry (1943)
- John Robins, The Incomplete Anglers (1943)
- Dorothy Duncan, Partner in Three Worlds (1944)
- Edgar McInnis, The War: Fourth Year (1944)
- Ross Munro, Gauntlet to Overlord (1945)
- Evelyn M. Richardson, We Keep a Light (1945)
- Frederick Phillip Grove, In Search of Myself (1946)
- Arthur R. M. Lower, Colony to Nation (1946)
- William Sclater, Haida (1947)
- Robert MacGregor Dawson, The Government of Canada (1947)
- Thomas Head Raddall, Halifax, Warden of the North (1948)
- C. P. Stacey, The Canadian Army, 1939-1945 (1948)
- Hugh MacLennan, Cross-country (1949)
- Robert MacGregor Dawson, Democratic Government in Canada (1949)
- Marjorie Wilkins Campbell, The Saskatchewan (1950)
- W. L. Morton, The Progressive Party in Canada (1950)
- Frank MacKinnon, The Progressive Party in Canada (1951)
- Josephine Phelan, The Ardent Exile (1951)
- Donald G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald, The Young Politician (1952)
- Bruce Hutchison, The Incredible Canadian (1952)
- J. M. S. Careless, Canada, A Story of Challenge (1953)
- N. J. Berrill, Sex and the Nature of Things (1953)
- Hugh MacLennan, Thirty and Three (1954)
- Arthur R. M. Lower, This Most Famous Stream (1954)
- N. J. Berrill, Man's Emerging Mind (1955)
- Donald G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald, The Old Chieftain (1955)
- Pierre Berton, The Mysterious North (1956)
- Joseph Lister Rutledge, Century of Conflict (1956)
- Thomas H. Raddall, The Path of Destiny (1957)
- Bruce Hutchison, Canada: Tomorrow's Giant (1957)
- Pierre Berton, Klondike (1958)
- Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney (1958)
- [No award] (1959)
- Frank Underhill, In Search of Canadian Liberalism (1960)
- T. A. Goudge, The Ascent of Life (1961)
- Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
- J.M.S. Careless, Brown of the Globe (1963)
- Phyllis Grosskurth, John Addington Symonds (1964)
- James Eayrs, In Defence of Canada (1965)
- George Woodcock, The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell (1966)
- Norah Story, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature (1967)
- Mordecai Richler, Hunting Tigers Under Glass (1968)
- [No award] (1969)
- [No award] (1970)
- Pierre Berton, The Last Spike (1971)
- [No award] (1972)
- Michael Bell, Painters in a New Land (1973)
- Charles Ritchie, The Siren Years (1974)
- Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson, Hallowed Walls (1975)
- Carl Berger, The Writing of Canadian History (1976)
- F. R. Scott, Essays on the Constitution (1977)
- Roger Caron, Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars (1978)
- Maria Tippett, Emily Carr (1979)
- Robert Bothwell and William Kilbourn, C.D. Howe (1979)
- Larry Pratt and John Richards, Prairie Capitalism (1979)
- Jeffrey Simpson, Discipline of Power: The Conservative Interlude and the Liberal Restoration (1980)
- George Calef, Caribou and the Barren-Land (1981)
- Christopher Moore, Louisbourg Portraits: Life in an Eighteenth- Century Garrison Town (1982)
- Jeffery Williams, Byng of Vimy: General and Governor General (1983)
- Sandra Gwyn, The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier (1984)
- Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada (1985)
- Northrop Frye, Northrop Frye on Shakespeare (1986)
- Michael Ignatieff, The Russian Album (1987)
- Anne Collins, In the Sleep Room (1988)
- Robert Calder, Willie: The Life of W. Somerset Maugham (1989)
- Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall, Trudeau and Our Times (1990)
- Robert Hunter and Robert Calihoo, Occupied Canada: A Young White Man Discovers His Unsuspected Past (1991)
- Maggie Siggins, Revenge of the Land: A Century of Greed, Tragedy and Murder on a Saskatchewan Farm (1992)
- Karen Connelly, Touch the Dragon (1993)
- John Livingston, Rogue Primate: An Exploration of Human Domestication (1994)
- Rosemary Sullivan, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen (1995)
- John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization (1996)
- Rachel Manley, Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood (1997)
- David Adams Richards, Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi (1998)
- Marq de Villiers, Water (1999)
- Nega Mezlekia, Notes from the Hyena's Belly (2000)
- Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Ingenuity Gap (2001)
- Andrew Nikiforuk, Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig's War Against Big Oil (2002)
- Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (2003)
- Roméo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2004)
- John Vaillant, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed (2005)
- Ross King, The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism (2006)
- Karolyn Smardz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (2007)
- Christie Blatchford, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army (2008)
- M. G. Vassanji, A Place Within: Rediscovering India (2009)
- Allan Casey, Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada (2010)
- Charles Foran, Mordecai: The Life and Times (2011)
- Ross King, Leonardo and the Last Supper (2012)
- Sandra Djwa, Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (2013)
- Michael John Harris, The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection (2014)
- Mark L. Winston, Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive (2015)
- Bill Waiser, A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 (2016)
- Graeme Wood, The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State (2017)
- Darrel J. McLeod, Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age' (2018)
- Don Gillmor, To the River: Losing My Brother (2019)
- Madhur Anand, This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020)
- Sadiqa de Meijer, alfabet/alphabet: a memoir of a first language (2021)
- Eli Baxter, Aki-wayn-zih: A Person as Worthy as the Earth (2022)
- Kyo Maclear, Unearthing (2023)