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This thesis examines the development of Yiddish literary culture in Montreal, Canada during its nascent period between 1905 and 1940. The focus is on Montreal's pre-Holocaust Yiddish literary life, and its proponents: A. Almi, Reuben Brainin, H. M. Caiserman, N. Y. Gotlib, Hersh Hershman, Yehuda Kaufman, Ida Maza, Israel Rabinovitch, B. G. Sack, J. I. Segal, A. Sh. Shkolnikov, Moshe Shmuelson, Sholem Shtern, Hirsch Wolofsky, Yaacov Zipper, Yehuda Zlotnik, and others. By way of introduction, it provides an overview of Yiddish immigration to Montreal and the creation of local Yiddish culture, and situates Montreal within the international interwar Yiddish literary milieu. The study goes on to present an overview of the Yiddish literary scene in Montreal, including its informal organizations and salons, the Yidishe-folks-biblyotek (Yiddishe Folksbibliotek, Jewish People's Library/Jewish Public Library), the YTEG (Yidish teater grupe/Yiddish Theatre Group), and the mechanisms behind Yiddish book publishing. It details the creation of the Montreal Yiddish press, with discussion of the Keneder adler (Keneder odler), Folkstsaytung, Der veg (Der weg) and other local newspapers, and discusses the overall role of the press in the local promotion of Yiddish literature and theatre. It presents the Yiddish literary journals published in Montreal: Der keneder yidisher shrayber, Nyuansn, Epokhe, Royerd, Der kval, Kanade, Heftn, Montreol, Prolit, Heftn, and Kanader zhurnal, as well as those published in Toronto and Vancouver that featured Montreal writers: Basheydn, In gevirbl, Buy undz, and Di yididte velt. It posits the question of Yiddish literary and cultural continuity by Looking at the role of the modern secular Yiddish schools in bolstering Yiddish literature among the younger generation, and considers the role of the Natsyonale-radikule-shuln/Perets-shuln (National Radical Schools/Peretz Schools), the Yidishe folksshuln (Jewish People's Schools), and the Moris-vintshevsky-shuln (Morris Winchevsky Schools) in the creation of a second generation of Yiddish writers such as Ruth Rubin, Shulamis Yellin and Aaron Krishtalka. By way of conclusion, the thesis posits the fate of Yiddish literary culture in Montreal, and Canada as a whole in the present and future.
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