# George Grube

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{{Short description|Canadian classics scholar and translator (1899–1982)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
thumb|<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grube|first=George|date=October 1943|journal=Canadian Forum|volume=23}}</ref>
'''Georges Maximilien Antoine Grube''' (2 August 1899 – 13 December 1982) was a Canadian scholar, university professor and democratic socialist political activist. Grube was a [classicist](/source/classicist) and [translator](/source/translator) of [Plato](/source/Plato), [Aristotle](/source/Aristotle), [Longinus](/source/Longinus_(literature)) and [Marcus Aurelius](/source/Marcus_Aurelius). He was one of the founders of the [New Democratic Party](/source/New_Democratic_Party) of Canada and ran unsuccessfully for election as an NDP candidate in Canadian federal elections.

==Biography==
Grube was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on 2 August 1899,<ref name="Bio Dictionary"/> and was educated at [King Edward's School](/source/King_Edward's_School%2C_Birmingham) in Birmingham, England.<ref name="Horn p56">Horn (1980), p. 56</ref><ref name="Times">"Final Tripos Lists", ''The Times'', 19 June 1922, p. 6.</ref> He served as a translator for the Belgian Army, attached to the [British Expeditionary Force](/source/British_Expeditionary_Force_(World_War_I)), during the [First World War](/source/World_War_I).<ref name="Star Obit"/> Following demobilisation in 1919 Grube studied the classics [tripos](/source/tripos) at [Emmanuel College, Cambridge](/source/Emmanuel_College%2C_Cambridge), and was awarded a [first-class](/source/British_undergraduate_degree_classification) BA in 1922 and [MA (Cantab)](/source/Master_of_Arts_(Oxford%2C_Cambridge_and_Dublin)) in 1925.<ref name="Bio Dictionary">Podlecki (1994), pp. 236-238</ref><ref name="Horn p56"/><ref name="Times"/>

He moved to Canada in 1928, to begin his career as a professor of classics at the [University of Trinity College](/source/University_of_Trinity_College) in the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) (U of T).<ref name="Star Obit"/> He became the head of the classics department in 1931.<ref name="Horn p56"/> Grube was a socialist, and serving in World War I turned him into a passionate pacifist.<ref name="Horn p56"/> During his tenure at the U of T, he was involved in the Toronto branch of the [League for Social Reconstruction](/source/League_for_Social_Reconstruction) (LSR), serving as president from 1934 to 1935.<ref name="Horn p56"/> When the LSR took control of the nearly bankrupt magazine, ''[Canadian Forum](/source/Canadian_Forum)'', Grube became its editor from 1937 to 1941.<ref name="Bio Dictionary"/> It was during his tenure at the magazine that it became the main media outlet for the LSR's publications.<ref name="Horn pp14,202">Horn (1980), pp. 14, 202</ref>

From 1944 to 1946, Grube was the President of the Ontario [Co-operative Commonwealth Federation](/source/Ontario_CCF)'s (CCF) executive, often acting as the public spokesperson for the party after its leader, [Ted Jolliffe](/source/Ted_Jolliffe), lost his seat in the Ontario general election on 4 June 1945.<ref name="Grube as prez">{{cite news|title=Drew flouting 48-hour order is C.C.F. charge|newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star|date=1945-11-26|author=Special to the Star|location=Toronto|page=17}}</ref><ref name=Winstar461212>{{cite news|title=C.C.F. asks liquor votes|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rCY_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=XE8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3849%2C2860313|access-date=2011-08-21|newspaper=The Windsor Daily Star|date=1946-12-12|author=Star Staff|location=Windsor, Ontario|page=19}}</ref> He also ran unsuccessfully several times for the House of Commons seat in what was then known as the [Broadview](/source/Broadview_(federal_electoral_district)) electoral district during the 1940s.<ref name="Bio Dictionary"/>

In August 1961, he was one of the co-chairs presiding over the [New Democratic Party](/source/New_Democratic_Party_(Canada))'s founding convention in Ottawa.<ref name="Bio Dictionary"/> In 1968, he won the Award of Merit from the [American Philological Association](/source/American_Philological_Association) (APA) for his 1965 book ''The Greek and Roman Critics''.<ref name="APA Award">{{cite news|title=U of T professor wins award|newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star|date=1968-01-06|author=City Bureau|location=Toronto|page=37}}</ref> The APA gave him the award for "outstanding contribution to classical scholarship."<ref name="APA Award"/> Two-years later, while still the head of the classics department, he retired from U of T in 1970.<ref name="Star Obit">{{cite news|title=George Grube, 83, pioneer in CCF|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=1982-12-15|location=Toronto|page=A19}}</ref>

He continued writing new translations of Plato's works until his death. In his later years, he had health issues, and he finally succumbed to them in Toronto on 13 December 1982.<ref name="Star Obit"/>

==Bibliography==
* ''Plato's Thought''.  London:  Methuen, 1935.
* ''The Drama of Euripides''.  London:  Methuen, 1941.
* ''On Great Writing,'' translation of ''On the Sublime'', by Longinus.  New York:  Liberal Arts Press, 1957.
* ''On Poetry and Style,'' translation with an introduction of ''The Poetics'', by Aristotle.  New York:  Liberal Arts Press, 1958.
* ''A Greek Critic,'' translation with an introduction of ''On Style'', by Demetrius of Phaleron.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1961.
* ''Meditations,'' translation of same by Marcus Aurelius.  Indianapolis:  Bobbs-Merrill, 1963.
* ''The Greek and Roman Critics''.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1965.
* ''How Did the Greeks Look at Literature''.  Cincinnati:  University of Cincinnati Press, 1967.
* ''The Republic''.  Indianapolis:  Hackett, 1974.
* ''Plato's Meno''.  Indianapolis:  Hackett, 1976.
* ''Plato's Phaedo''.  Indianapolis:  Hackett, 1977.
* ''Five Dialogues,'' translation of ''Euthyphro'', ''Apology of Socrates'', ''Crito'', ''Meno'', and ''Phaedo'', by Plato.  Indianapolis:  Hackett, 1981.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|last=Horn|first=Michiel|title=The League for Social Reconstruction: Intellectual origins of the democratic left in Canada, 1930–1942|url=https://archive.org/details/leagueforsocialr0000horn|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|isbn=0-8020-5487-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Podlecki|first=Anthony J.|author-link=Anthony Podlecki|title=Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists|year=1994|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Wesport, Connecticut|isbn=0-313-24560-6|editor=[Ward W. Briggs](/source/Ward_W._Briggs) Jr.}}

==External links==
{{Archival records|title=G. M. A. Grube and Gwenyth D. Grube fonds}}

* {{DBCS}}
*[https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/grube-george-maximilian-antony-oral-history George Grube oral history interview] held at the [https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca/ University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grube, George Maximilian Anthony}}
Category:1899 births
Category:1982 deaths
Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:Trinity College (Canada) alumni
Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Category:Classical scholars of the University of Toronto
Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science
Category:People associated with Trinity College, Toronto

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [George Grube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Grube) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Grube?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
