Paul G. Socken

Paul G. Socken (born 1945) is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and a leading scholar on the work of French-Canadian author Gabrielle Roy. He is also the founder of the department of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo.

Socken holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. (1974) from the University of Toronto. He is a specialist in French-Canadian literature, particularly in the novel. He has done research on the thematic and stylistic aspects of Gabrielle Roy's writing and currently publishes in the area of mythology and French-Canadian literature.

Socken has written over a hundred articles for the Canadian Jewish News, the Algemeiner and the Jewish Journal of LA.

Personal Life Early Life Professor Socken was born to Jewish Immigrants in 1945 in downtown Toronto. His father was a factory worker at a purse factory in the city. At the age of 11 his mother passed away and a few years later his father remarried to a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Socken attended local schools throughout his childhood. Eventually Socken attended The University of Toronto continuing with his masters at the University of Iowa. Professor Socken was not born for the rural life, so upon finishing his degree in Iowa, he returned north of the border to Toronto where he worked on his Phd in French Canadian literature. He met his wife Rochelle Ash, daughter of Jewish Polish holocaust survivors, during these formative years of his life. They married in 1970. Adult Life In 1973 they made the move west to Waterloo Ontario where he served as associate professor. He steadily advanced in his career attaining full professor status and eventually serving as chair of the department of French Literature for six years. He remained in the university for 37 years. While living in Waterloo, Professor Socken and wife Rochelle had two daughters, Suzanne and Deborah. The Socken family was a prominent family in the local Synagogue, Beth Jacob, led by Rabbi Philip Rosenzweig. Socken served as president of the synagogue for some time and Rochelle taught in the Jewish after school program. The Socken family returned to Toronto in 1990 to be closer to family and Jewish Infrastructure. Back in Toronto, Professor Socken became a force in the Clanton Park Synagogue where he is the candy man. Works Books The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? (2013) Why Study Talmud in the Twenty-First Century?: The Relevance of the Ancient Jewish Text to Our World (2009) Intimate Strangers (2004) Gabrielle Roy Today / Gabrielle Roy aujourd'hui (2003) The French They Never Taught You (with José Binamé) (2002, ) Patrimoines: La Francophonie en Amérique du nord (with P.H. Dubé and Ann Dubé) (1992) The Myth of the Lost Paradise in the Novels of Jacques Poulin (1993) Concordance de Bonheur d'occasion de Gabrielle Roy (1982) Myth and Morality in Alexandre Chenevert by G. Roy (1987)

Chapters/Articles in Books "Gabrielle Roy: An Annotated Bibliography" The Annotated Bibliography of Canada's Major Authors (1979)

Selected Professional and Community Affiliations Association of Quebec and Canadian Studies Association of Canadian Studies in the United States Association française d'études canadiennes