Louis Dudek
| Louis Dudek | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 6, 1918 Montreal, Quebec |
| Died | March 23, 2001 (aged 83) Montreal, Quebec |
| Language | English |
| Nationality |
 Canadian |
| Ethnicity | Polish |
| Notable awards | Order of Canada |
| Spouse | Stephanie Zuperko, Aileen Collins |
| Children | Gregory Dudek |
Louis Dudek, OC (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books. "As a critic, teacher and theoretician, Dudek influenced the teaching of Canadian poetry in most schools and universities" in Canada."
Dudek was born in Montreal Quebec, the son of Vincent and Stanislawa Dudek, part of an extended Catholic family which had emigrated from Poland, and was raised in that city's East End. He was lean and sickly as a child, which made him introverted and hypersensitive. His mother died at 31, when he was eight.
Due to family finances, Dudek dropped out of high school (though he returned and completed his diploma), and went to work in a warehouse until, in 1936, his father was able to send him to college. He entered McGill University in Montreal, soon becoming a reporter and Associate Editor for the McGill Daily. He received his B.A. from McGill in 1939.
On graduating, Dudek briefly freelanced in journalism and advertising. He married Stephanie Zuperko on September 16, 1941. They would have one son, Gregory Dudek (a professor of computer science who is director of the McGill University School of Computer Science).
During this time Louis Dudek "was prominent among the poets who participated in First Statement (1942-1945), a seminal 'little magazine' in the development of modern Canadian literature." "Together with" John Sutherland, the magazine's editor "and Irving Layton, he fought hard to foster a native tradition in poetry and establish new ways of writing in Canada, pioneering a direct style that articulated experience in plain language."
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