  We study a canonical quantization of the Wess--Zumino--Witten (WZW) model
which depends on two integer parameters rather than one. The usual theory can
be obtained as a contraction, in which our two parameters go to infinity
keeping the difference fixed. The quantum theory is equivalent to a generalized
  Thirring model, with left and right handed fermions transforming under
different representations of the symmetry group. We also point out that the
classical WZW model with a compact target space has a canonical formalism in
which the current algebra is an affine Lie algebra of non--compact type.
  Also, there are some non--unitary quantizations of the WZW model in which
there is invariance only under half the conformal algebra (one copy of the
  Virasoro algebra).
