{"product_id":"waiting-for-the-messiah","title":"Waiting for the Messiah","description":"Enigmatic and explosive, Irving Layton was indisputably one of this country's most  controversial literary figures. His flamboyant style and outspokenness won him friends  and enemies. His visceral and lyrical poetry earned him reverence and international  acclaim. In \u003ci\u003eWaiting for the Messiah\u003c\/i\u003e, first published in 1985, Layton writes openly  about his life and the discordant impulses that shaped him into the provocative poet  and personality that he became.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e With the vitality, passion, and intimacy that characterizes  his verse, his memoir—covering the years between 1912 and 1946—sheds welcome  light on Irving Layton's public persona, and gives further substance to one of the  most impressive bodies of work in Canadian poetry. His  self-portrait teems with  insight and energy, and paints a picture of a colourful life, from its beginnings  in Montreal's Jewish ghetto.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As a high-spirited, life-loving, and sensual boy, he  reacted against anti-Semitism and poverty that surrounded him, rejecting his parents'  values and orthodox beliefs. He battled his way through an educational system that  provided no outlet for his imagination. Layton's \"crazy need for experience\" drove  him to embrace or challenge all that he encountered, and he recounts his first experiences  with sex and death, his associations with literary friends and rivals, his relationships  with women. Equally compelling is his description of Montreal in the forties as a  city crackling with literary and political energies. It was in the ferment of this  milieu that Layton ripened as a poet. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eWaiting for the Messiah, \u003c\/i\u003eLayton unleashes  his sparkling prose style. He is bold and revealing, scathing and witty. The result  is a rich and entertaining memoir of a life which as \"commuted daily between heaven  and hell\" and produced poems which have made a lasting contribution to Canadian literature.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50957830226208,"sku":"9780771049521","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0836\/3661\/7504\/files\/9780771049521.jpg?v=1763764063","url":"https:\/\/creativebysanchez.com\/products\/waiting-for-the-messiah","provider":"Creative By Sanchez","version":"1.0","type":"link"}