A Nation Beyond Borders : Lionel Groulx on French-Canadian Minorities

Bock Michel, Ferdinanda Van Gennip

Description

This book, first published as Quand la nation débordait les frontières (Hurtubise HMH, 2004), is considered the most comprehensive analysis of Lionel Groulx's work and vision as an intellectual leader of a nationalist school that extended well beyond the borders of Québec. 

Recipient of the 2005 Governor General's Literary Award in non-fiction, the original French edition also won the Michel-Brunet Award (Institut d'histoire de l'Amérique française), the Prix Champlain (Conseil de la vie française en Amérique), and a medal awarded by the Québec National Assembly. It was also shortlisted for the Jean-Charles-Falardeau Award (Fédération canadienne des sciences humaines du Canada) and the City of Ottawa Book Award.

For over five decades, historians and intellectuals have defined the nationalist discourse primarily in territorial terms. In this regard, Groulx has been portrayed—more often than not—as the architect of Québécois nationalism. Translated by Ferdinanda Van Gennip, A Nation Beyond Borders will continue to spark debate on Groulx's description of the parameters of the French-Canadian nation. Highlighting the often neglected role of French-Canadian minorities in his thought, this book presents the Canon as an uncompromising advocate of solidarity between all French-Canadian communities.

Sujets

• Minority Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: University of Ottawa Press
• Date de parution: 29 avril 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780776621562
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A Nation Beyond Borders

The University of Ottawa Press acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to its publishing list by Heritage Canada through the Canada Book Fund, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program and by the University of Ottawa.
The UOP would also like to acknowledge La Fondation Lionel-Groulx as well as the Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-française (CRCCF) for providing the photographs used in this book. Contributions from La Fondation Lionel-Groulx include the cover image as well as photographs used in chapters 1 to 5. Contributions from the CRCCF include the frontispiece as well as the photograph used in chapter 6.
Copy editing: Lisa Hannaford-Wong Proofreading: Joanne Muzak Typesetting: Édiscript Enr. Cover design: Édiscript Enr.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Bock, Michel, 1971-
[Quand la nation débordait les frontières. English] A nation beyond borders: Lionel Groulx on French-Canadian minorities/Michel Bock; translated by Ferdinanda Van Gennip.
Translation of: Quand la nation débordait les frontières. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-0-7766-0821-1 (pbk.). ISBN 978-0-7766-2157-9 (pdf). ISBN 978-0-7766-2156-2 (epub).
1. Groulx, Lionel, 1878-1967--Political and social views. 2. Canadians, French-speaking—Ethnic identity. 3. Linguistic minorities—Canada. 4. Nationalism—Canada. 5. Canadians, French-speaking—Ontario. 6. Canada—Ethnic relations. 7. Nationalism—Canada—Historiography. 8. Canada—Ethnic relations—Historiography. 9. Historians—Canada—Biography. 10. Historians—Québec (Province)—Biography. I. Gennip, Ferdinanda van, 1948-, translator II. Title. III. Title: Lionel Groulx on French-Canadian minorities. FC151.G76B6213 2014 971.4007202 C2014-901914-9 C2014-901915-7
© University of Ottawa Press, 2014
Printed in Canada
Table of Contents
Translator’s Note
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One
The French Minorities in the Work and Thought of Lionel Groulx: The Blind Spot of Historians of French-Canadian Nationalism
French-Canadian Nationalism and the Emergence of the Theory of Provincialism
The Historians and L’Action française
The Historians and the Thought of Lionel Groulx
Modernity, “Americanity” and the French Minorities
Québec and the French Minorities in Recent Historiography
Chapter Two
The French Minorities, Remnant of an Empire: French Canada, Its Apostolic Vocation and Founding Mission
The French-Canadian Nation According to Lionel Groulx: Conceptual Clarifications
Nation and State in Groulxist Nationalism
Essential Conditions: Tradition and Will
The Minorities and French-Canadian Messianism
French Canada and the Theory of the Providential Creation of Nations
Providence, History and French America
The Minorities and the Compact Theory of Confederation
The Minorities and the Pact of 1867
The Minorities in the Anglo-Protestant World
Chapter Three
Québec and Its Relationship to the French Minorities: The Ties That Bind
Québec, the Metropolis of French Canada
The Citadel and the Vanguard
The French Minorities and the Ineffectualness of Québec
National Solidarity At Work
L’Action française: Preaching by Example
Building Bridges: La Fête de Dollard, the “Saving Organization” and Other Measures
Chapter Four
The Franco-Ontarians and Regulation 17: The Awakening of the Nation
Groulx and French Ontario: Contacts and Connections
In Ottawa
In Southern Ontario
The French-Canadian Nationalist Movement and the Catalyzing Role of Regulation
Groulx Intervenes in the Franco-Ontarian Crisis
The Franco-Ontarian School Penny
The Ninth Crusade
The Lecture: Another Means of Action
Lionel Groulx, L’Action française and the Franco-Ontarian Crisis
The Schools Conflict as Represented in the Review
The Grand Prix d’Action française
Alonié de Lestres and L’Appel de la race
The Novel and its Reception by Franco-Ontarians
Literature and Theology
Jules de Lantagnac and Napoléon Belcourt
Chapter Five
The French Minorities and the “French State”: The Indépendantiste Theory During the Interwar Period
L’Action française and “Our Political Future”: The 1922 Study 182
Reactions to the 1922 Study 189
Lionel Groulx, the French Minorities and the Idea of Independence During the 1930s 197
Chapter Six
From the Second World War to the Quiet Revolution: Lionel Groulx, the French Minorities and Québécois Neo-Nationalism (1945–1967)
Anticlericalism, Laicization and Materialism: Challenges to Groulx’s Intellectual Legacy
The Intellectual Context of the Postwar Period
Groulx, the Neo-Nationalists and the Murial of the French Minorities
Groulx and the Minorities: Ongoing Relations
Groulx and the Conseil de la vie française en Amérique
Contact Maintained through Lectures, Articles and Travel
The Minorities in Groulx’s Historical Work
The Minorities and the Theory of Messianism in the Later Works of the Old maître
Groulx, the Minorities and the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Index
Translator’s Note
A FEW POINTS OF CLARIFICATION regarding the style and terminology used in this book may be useful. While the lack of inclusive language may offend some, it was felt that in a work of historiography such as this, it would be too jarring to translate, for example, les hommes as “men and women” rather than “men,” or to translate il as “they,” rather than “he” and that the tone should reflect the mindset of Groulx and the thinking of his day. It is also hoped that the extensive use of quotation marks throughout the book will not be a distraction. Terminology is of central importance in this book. Was the Confederation compact a “pact” or not? Were the French minorities “persecuted”? Was the French-Canadian nation an “organism”? Did it really have an “apostolic mission”? The author has used quotation marks to remind the reader that these terms are being used specifically in the way that either Groulx or another historian used them and with the meaning that they attached to them. Especially the word race has by and large been kept in quotation marks, as in Groulx’s ideology its meaning is equivalent to that of nation, nationality, ethnic group or people. In this work, “America” ( Amérique in the original) refers not to the United States of America, but to the New World, the North American continent, for that is what Groulx meant by it. For the word survivance , a decision was made to retain the French, as its meaning is not limited to “survival,” for which the French word would be survie . The survivance of a people is not only about continuing to exist and entails more even than cultural and spiritual survival. It refers to a truly viable nation with its own strong sense of identity.
I found the original French work to be one of exceptional clarity and cohesion, and I hope I have done justice to it in this English version. It was a great privilege to translate this book, which manages to be at the same time intellectually stimulating and rich in the kind of vivid detail that brings history to life.
I wish to thank the publishers for their gracious assistance and patience throughout this project and, especially, the author, Michel Bock, for his timely and helpful replies to all my queries.

Ferdinanda Van Gennip Windsor, Ontario September 2013
Preface
IN 2004, when this book was originally published, the historiographical debates surrounding the ideology of Abbé Lionel Groulx (1878–1967) were once again heating up. As French Canada’s most influential nationalist intellectual from the 1920s to the 1950s, the interest Groulx has elicited over the past sixty years among historians, as well as various other commentators, has been cyclical, with each generation choosing to see something new or different in his œuvre. Groulx’s power to fascinate has always been remarkable and suggests that, as an historical figure, there is very little, if anything, about him, that can be considered banal or trivial. From a strictly quantitative point of view, his production as an intellectual is, quite simply, staggering: dozens of books and brochures covering many genres, hundreds of articles of all kinds, a collection of personal correspondence comprised of thousands of letters, numerous unedited manuscripts and more. From a qualitative point of view, Groulx’s life’s work has, of course, been the subject of many controversies, both during his lifetime and afterward. Here was a man, born and raised in the nineteenth century in a very modest habitant home, whose initiation to the world of culture and ideas would come from his classical education and his exposure to the ideals of philosophical traditionalism. Here was a man who would be thrust quickly into the position of leader of the French-Canadian nationalist movement at a time when Québec’s