George Woodcock

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George Woodcock (born May 8, 1912 in Winnipeg Manitoba , Canada , † January 28, 1995 , Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada) was a Canadian author, poet , anarchist , essayist and literary critic . As a writer, he wrote historical and political biographies, poems and travel books.

Life

Woodcock moved to England with his parents as a toddler. After he graduated from college, he turned down a scholarship to Oxford University because he would have had to profess a religion. Instead, he became an employee of the Great Western Railway . During this activity his interest in anarchism was aroused, especially social anarchism . He remained an anarchist until the end of his life, writing fundamental books on anarchism and some of its proponents.

During the Second World War Woodcock in the US was as an avowed conscientious objectors of conscience in Civilian Public Service camp no. 56 in Camp Angel in Oregon interned. The inmates of this camp could devote themselves to the fine arts and so Woodcock founded the Untide Press publishing house there .

After the war, Woodcock went back to Canada and settled in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. In 1955 he was appointed to the Department of English at the University of British Columbia , where he remained active until the 1970s. During this time he devoted himself intensively to his writing activities. He published travel books, poetry collections and his work on anarchism.

Towards the end of his life, Woodcock's interest turned to the fate of the Tibetans . He traveled to India , studied Buddhism and met the Dalai Lama . He and his wife Inge set up various aid projects for Tibetan refugees and Indian villages. They also initiated a Canadian Writer Relief Fund administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada .

Honors

Woodcock declined to accept awards from governmental or governmental institutions. However, he accepted the Freedom of the City of Vancouver award . He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) in 1968 , the University of British Columbia Medal for Popular Biography in 1973 and 1976, and the Molson Prize for the Arts in 1973 .

Works (selection)

  • The White Island . London, Fortune Press 1940.
  • New Life to the Land . Freedom Press, London 1942.
  • Anarchy or Chaos , Freedom Press, London 1944; New edition with a new introduction by the author: Ziesing, Willimantic 1992.
  • A Hundred Years of Revolution, 1848 and after. A Collection of Essays and Documents . Porcupine Press, London 1948.
  • with Ivan Amakumović: anarchist Prince; A Biographical Study of Peter Kropotkin . TV Boardman, London 1950.
  • Anarchism: A History of Liberitarian Ideas and Movements. 1962; New edition: Broadview Press, Peterborough, England 2004.
  • Civil Disobedience. 1966.
  • The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell . 1966
    • Translator Matthias Fienbork: The clairvoyant. George Orwell's work and activity. Diogenes, Zurich 1985 ISBN 3-257-01700-6
  • The Greeks in India. Faber & Faber, London 1966.
  • The Hudson's Bay Company . Crowell-Collier Press, New York City 1970.
  • Gandhi . Fontana Modern Masters, 1972.
    • Translator Yvette Köpp: Mahatma Gandhi . Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, Munich 1975; Piper, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-492-15229-5 .
  • Dawn and Darkest Hour: A Study of Aldous Huxley . Faber & Faber, London 1973, ISBN 0-571-08939-9 .
  • Who Killed the British Empire? To Inquest. Cape, London 1974, ISBN 0-224-01012-3 .
  • Gabriel Dumont : The Métis Chief and His Lost World . 1975. Reprinted 2003, Broadview Press, ISBN 1-55111-575-1
  • (Ed. :) The Anarchist Reader. Harvester Press, Hassocks, Sussex 1977, ISBN 0-85527-889-7
  • Anima, or, Swann Grown Old: A Cycle of Poems , 1977.
  • The cedar peoples. Art by West Coast Canadian Indians . Canadian Literature, Bonn 2nd edition 1979
  • Strange Bedfellows: The State and the Arts in a Canada . 1985.
  • William Godwin . A Biographical Study. Black Rose Books, Montréal 1989, ISBN 0-921689-49-7
  • Anarchism. A History of Liberitarian Ideas and Movements. The World Publishing Company, 1962
    • Excerpt, trans. Peter Peterson: Leo Tolstoy : A nonviolent anarchist. Edition Flugschrift, Ulm 1987 ISBN 3-925866-01-9 ; again armed-response, Nuremberg o. J. (2017?)

literature

  • Heiner Becker: Anarchism and Morality. George Woodcock 1912-1995. In: Schwarzer Faden No. 53 (16th year, issue 2/95), pp. 44–45

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Woodcock, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian author and critic
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1995
Place of death Vancouver , British Columbia ,