Allen Curtis Koretsky – a professor emeritus, long-serving York University educator and former head of Stong College – died July 9.
Koretsky's legacy at York University began with idea to come to Canada, sparked by famed literary critic Northrop Frye.
While studying English literature at Harvard in the 1950s, Koretsky – who was born in Boston in 1937 – enrolled in a third-year course on literary myth taught by Frye. The experience proved pivotal, sparking an interest in pursuing a graduate degree in English.
Koretsky learned Frye was a Canadian who taught at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. He also discovered a Harvard friend had a father who taught there as well. An invitation was extended: Koretsky would visit his friend’s parents and be introduced to the University of Toronto.
Eight years later, he had earned a PhD from the University of Toronto.
Koretsky joined York University in the late 1960s and taught in the Department of English for more than four decades. At the time of his hiring, he was the department’s only teacher of Anglo-Saxon. He later served as head of Stong College, where he mentored students and faculty with the same warmth, humour and thoughtful guidance he brought to his classrooms.
His teaching interests included Old and Middle English and the 18th-century novel, but Koretsky’s intellectual influence extended far beyond specific eras or genres. He believed deeply in the value of the diverse life experiences students brought into his courses, once describing it in his writing as “exhilarating.”
That conviction grew as he witnessed the transformation of Toronto and York’s student population over the decades. “Many different people from many different parts of the world have immigrated to Toronto. We are all so much the richer for that,” he wrote. “Our classes reflect this dramatic change in demography. The educational effects of such change are important.”
For Koretsky, the university classroom was not about intellectual authority but about active engagement. “The crucial question for teachers ... should not be, ‘Who has intellectual authority in the classroom?’ but rather, ‘How can my students best learn?’”
He encouraged questioning, debate and critical thinking, regardless of topic or personal conviction, because he believed it would serve students throughout life. “Long after students have forgotten almost every detail of the content of any particular undergraduate course,” he wrote, “they will have to be using their critical skills to the utmost in their jobs, their families ... and civic responsibilities.”
Whether discussing literature, politics or his great love – baseball – Koretsky had a gift for connection. Known for his puns, booming laugh and open-hearted mentorship, he made students and colleagues alike feel heard and valued.
“I believe now, much more confidently than when I began the adventure of teaching,” he once reflected, “that the principal job of the university teacher today is to get the students to think actively, intelligently and responsibly ... The recognition that you are using your mind energetically and creatively has to be one of the best feelings in the world.”
He is remembered for giving generations of York students that feeling.