Michael (Mieczyslaw) Gnarowski

Michael (Mieczyslaw) Gnarowski was born to Nina Dudko and Daniel Gnarowski September 27, 1934, in Shanghai, China and died peacefully July 27, 2023, in his 89^th year in Ottawa. His father was a veteran of World War I as well as a businessman and industrialist. His mother’s family had been in Harbin since the late 19^th century. He was educated at St. Francis Xavier College, a boarding school in Shanghai. He came to Canada in 1951 to attend McGill University in Montreal where he studied and became friends with Louis Dudek, Hugh MacLennan and Frank Scott. He received his B.A. in 1956. This was followed by an M.A. (1960) from the University of Montreal and a Ph.D. (1967) from the University of Ottawa. Michael was also commissioned 1^st Lieutenant in the Canadian Intelligence Corps, Number One Reserve Company.

Predeceased by his son Jan Frederik (1969), his daughter, Sybille Marina Gnarowski (2011) and his parents. He is survived by his loving wife Diana (Paquet), daughter Franceska (Chris Ladurantaye) and son Danik as well as extended family in Ottawa and Poland. 

For over fifty years, Michael devoted his life and career to fostering, promoting and preserving Canada’s literary heritage.  His devotion to the lives and works of Canadian writers, both living and dead, was marked by unceasing teaching, scholarship and publishing.  These were the three pillars of his life’s work.  Through passionate and often tenacious pursuit, Michael enriched our understanding of our literary heritage.

His career as an educator and professor is well documented.  He taught at the Université de Sherbrooke, Lakehead University, Sir George Williams (now Concordia) and at Carleton University.  Michael also enjoyed teaching during several guest lectureships and visiting professorships in Europe, including a post as exchange scholar and Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Leningrad in 1977.   

The list of his writing is extensive.  Two books among the many he has written or edited are worth mentioning for the impact they have had on the teaching and study of Canadian Literature.  The first is The Making of Modern Poetry in Canada (Ryerson Press, 1967) which he co-edited with Louis Dudek, his long-time friend and collaborator.  This collection of essays defined modern Canadian poetry for scholars and students alike.  It centered modern Canadian poetry’s place in the Canadian literary landscape and its importance to the literary development of Canada.  The second is A Concise Bibliography of English-Canadian Literature (McClelland & Stewart, 1973, revised 1978) which updated the literature sections of Watters A Checklist of Canadian Literature (heretofore the bible of Canadian bibliography) and which became an important scholarly and bibliographic tool in recognizing and legitimizing modern Canadian writers. 

Publishing was a true passion.  Considered a founder of the small press movement in Canada when he co-founded, in 1956, the literary small press YES: a Magazine of Poetry and Prose, with Glen Siebrasse and John Lachs. Together they produced nineteen issues until 1970, publishing emerging and established writers, such as works by Raymond Souster, Hugh Hood, Fred Cogswell, Milton Acorn, Irving Layton, and George Whalley, some of whom have become icons of the Canadian literary landscape. 

He was co-founder of DELTA Canada with Louis Dudek and co-founder with Glen Clever and Frank Tierney of Tecumseh Press (Borealis).  In 1972, he founded The Golden Dog Press, which published numerous books of poetry, history, critical texts, and more.  He was also Vice-President, General Editor and founding Director of the Carleton University Press from 1982 to 1993.

In all his publishing endeavours and editing activities, Michael had a clear-headed, practical, yet critically astute sense of what was important and what was not.  Informed by his critical and analytical skills, his overriding concerns were scholarship and distribution.  He believed that works of Canadian literature are kept alive through the acts of printing and publishing and Michael doggedly read through reams of material to find the gold, the important and lasting works of our writers.  It is through these activities that Michael kept alive and made present the literature of our past.

He was a link with a rich literary heritage. Long may our shared literary heritage and his legacy continue.

Friends and family are invited to celebrate his life at the Beechwood National Memorial Centre, 280 Beechwood Avenue, on September 8, 2023, at 1PM, followed by a reception. 

The family extends its profound gratitude to the doctors and staff at Shenkman Palliative Care Unit, St Vincent’s Hospital, Ottawa, and to the Regional Palliative Consultation Team.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to any of the palliative care services in Ottawa or elsewhere.