Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler

First published: 1989

Type of plot: Family chronicle

Time of work: The 1840’s to the 1990’s

Locale: Northern Canada and Montreal

Principal Characters:

• Solomon Gursky, the leader of the family liquor business, who escapes from the conflicted world of his family
• Moses Berger, a failed writer and alcoholic who tries to fulfill a lifelong ambition to tell Solomon’s real story
• Bernard Gursky, the greedy and duplicitous brother of Solomon Gursky
• Morrie Gursky, the weak younger brother of Solomon and Bernard
• Henry Gursky, the son of Solomon who moves to the north and is closely involved in his Judaic faith

The Novel

Solomon Gursky Was Here spans two centuries as it traces an extraordinary Jewish family from its shady founder, Ephraim Gursky, to its huge success in the liquor business. The novel also provides a biographer of the family, Moses Berger, who searches for the legendary and lost Solomon Gursky.

The book begins with the arrival of Ephraim Gursky in Canada as the only survivor of the ill-fated Lord Franklin expedition of 1846 in search of the Northwest Passage. Ephraim is portrayed as a trickster who dupes the Native Canadians by announcing that he has come to save them. His story is gradually revealed later in the novel; his history includes time in jail in London, transportation to Australia, and a period as the head of a religious cult.

The central part of the family story involves Ephraim’s grandsons. They rise from running a dry-goods store to become hotelkeepers when Solomon Gursky wins a hotel and a considerable amount of money in a poker game. Hotel-keeping is profitable for the family, but they find their true niche as bootleggers under the leadership of Solomon. Finally, the family becomes owners of one of the largest corporations in Canada, the Gursky liquor empire. At first, Solomon is the dominant character in the family. However, Bernard betrays him when a trial for bootlegging and bribery endangers the family. At this time, Solomon mysteriously dies in a plane crash. There is some question, however, about whether he is really dead.

In this broken family history, Ephraim’s grandsons have many conflicts. Solomon Gursky is clearly favored over the other two. He is taken on an initiatory voyage to the far north, where he acquires some of the trickster spirit of his grandfather. Bernard is full of sharp practice as he leads the company from its bootlegging beginnings to success as a wealthy corporation. The younger brother, Morrie, is dominated by Bernard and submissive.

Another submissive character is L. B. Berger, who begins as a radical socialist poet in the 1930’s. He sells his poetic voice to “Mr. Bernard” Gursky, and he produces birthday poems for someone who represents the capitalist class he and his friends have struggled against. His son, Moses, is disgusted with his father’s betrayal of his principles for money and turns his attention to the children of Solomon Gursky to spite his father and “Mr. Bernard.” His ambition is to write a book on the Gursky family, especially on the true story of Solomon, who may be still alive. However, Moses is incapacitated by his Oedipal struggle with his father; he becomes an alcoholic who has not succeeded in anything. A surrogate father, represented by the search for Solomon, may restore his creative and intellectual powers.

Moses is a Rhodes Scholar, and he is invited to catalog the Arctic material of a mysterious Englishman, Sir Hyman Kaplansky. After a series of revealing incidents, Moses discovers that Solomon Gursky and Sir Hyman Kaplansky are the same man; however, the object of his search disappears. Moses discovers later evidence that reveals that Solomon had been helping Jews in Berlin during World War II and later had helped free hostages at Entebbe.

Moses discovers the mysterious Solomon Gursky again when a financier named Corvu buys shares of the Gursky company. He does this to prevent Bernard’s son, Lionel, from taking over the company and displacing Solomon’s children, Henry and Lucy. The novel ends with Solomon Gursky going to the far north of Canada with Moses still pursuing him. Solomon leaves signs of his presence to Moses, but he is always a step ahead of Moses—and everybody else. Solomon Gursky remains an elusive, even mythical, presence at the end of the novel; when there is trouble for the Jews, he appears and provides the needed help. He can never be captured by Moses or anyone else but will remain a living mythic figure who appears when he is needed.

The Characters

The two major characters are Solomon Gursky and Moses Berger, although many other prominent characters have a significant role in this family chronicle. Solomon is an intriguing and elusive character. He dominates his brothers without really trying. When Morrie becomes proud of his ability as a cabinetmaker, Solomon borrows his tools to make a far superior cabinet as a gift for a lady. In addition, he is not interested in the accumulation of money that drives Bernard. He is interested in relationships with beautiful and intelligent women and causes such as Israel and the fate of the Jews.

Moses Berger is a fascinating character in his failures and his ambitions. He is an alcoholic primarily because of the problem with his father, and he never overcomes that difficulty. He does have a sympathy and affection for those who, like him, are out of the mainstream. He lives in a house in the north of Canada and has a close relationship with the down-and-out characters in the local bar and with the aloof Henry Gursky. He is a man seeking redemption for his failures and his past through his search for Solomon Gursky.

Bernard Gursky is a hilarious character, with his naked greed and his pretensions to a high position in Canadian and American society. The name he acquires, “Mr. Bernard,” suggests something of these pretensions. He is ever alert to increase his fame and stature while diminishing everyone near him. Morrie is unable to find a place for himself under the shadow of his oppressive younger brother. Richler takes savage pleasure in portraying this monster, especially in the annual birthday parties that are dedicated to the homage of “Mr. Bernard.”

Critical Context

The novel may be a roman à clef in which the Gursky family represents the Bronfman family, a Canadian dynasty that owns the Seagrams corporation. The Bronfman’s disputed early history and later triumph provides one way to read the novel.

The novel is also of interest in its manipulation of narrative time. It begins in the middle of the nineteenth century and moves back and forth in time to give a full portrait of the Gursky family. This unusual narrative structure is used to reveal the checkered history of the family’s founder, Ephraim, and to create a mythic presence in the characterization of Solomon. He is never seen in a linear narrative, but his presence cuts through a large period of history.

The novel also shows a development in the fiction of Mordecai Richler. It does have the Jewish characters of Montreal of the earlier novels as well as the humor. However, this novel has a scope and historical sweep that is new in Richler’s oeuvre. The family saga that spreads over a century and a half contrasts to the concentration of the other novels.

Finally, the family conflicts of the novel will be of interest to many young readers, who may be drawn to the father-son conflicts that seem to define nearly all of this family’s history. The book presents some very oppressive fathers and some blighted sons. However, the novel does seem to point to a displacement of these fathers as a younger generation comes to power.

Bibliography

Cohen, Sarah Blacher, ed. Jewish Wry: Essays on Jewish Humor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. The essay on Richler in this collection calls attention to one of the most important elements of Richler’s style, humor.

McNaught, Kenneth. “Mordecai Richler Was Here.” Journal of Canadian Studies 26, no. 4 (Winter, 1992). A discussion of Richler’s critical view of Canada and its embodiment in his recent novels.

Richler, Mordecai. Home Sweet Home: My Canadian Album. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. An amusing collection of essays that show Richler’s critical view of Canadian culture.

Sheps, David, ed. Mordecai Richler. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1971. A discussion of Richler’s early novels, themes, and style.

Todd, Richard. “Narrative Trickery and Performative Historiography: Fictional Representation of National Identity in Graham Swift, Peter Carey, and Mordecai Richler.” In Magical Realism: Theory, History, and Community, edited by Wendy B. Faris and Lois Parkinson Zamora. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995. An interesting discussion of Richler’s use of postmodern techniques.