Esther Delisle
This poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Esther Delisle" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2011) |
Esther Delisle | |
---|---|
Born | 1954 (age 69–70) |
Known for | The Traitor and the Jew: Anti-Semitism and the Delirium of Extremist Right-Wing Nationalism in French Canada from 1929–1939 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Université Laval, BA, MA, Ph.D |
Esther Delisle (born 1954) is a
.Biography
Born and raised in
Delisle-Richler controversy
press.In 1993, she published a book based on her doctoral political science thesis, short-titled The Traitor and the Jew. The book aroused considerable hostility; when she appeared at one Quebec bookstore, the manager of the shopping mall cut the electricity to the bookstore in order to interfere with her book signing. (Different versions of this incident appear in Sara Scott, "The Lonely Passion of Esther Delisle", Elm Street, April 1998, p. 97, and Sheli Teitelbaum, "Quebec and French Nazis", The Canadian Jewish News, December 15, 1994, reprinted from The Jerusalem Report.) A 2002 documentary film by Eric R. Scott titled Je me souviens, recounts Delisle's story using rare archival footage with speeches and commentaries by some of Quebec's leading nationalist figures of the time.
The controversy over whether or not Quebec society is or was antisemitic simplifies her thesis and has obscured the more important themes of her work.[
In 1998, Esther Delisle published, Myths, Memories and Lies, an account of how some members of Quebec's elite, nationalist and federalist, supported Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Pétain and his Vichy government in Nazi-occupied France during World War II and helped bring French war criminals to safety in Quebec after the war ended.
Criticism
Historian Gérard Bouchard, who also published a book critical of Lionel Groulx, has been very critical of The Traitor and the Jew. In a letter to Le Devoir, published on May 1, 2003, he contended that only 14 of 58 quotes of Lionel Groulx in Delisle's thesis are accurate, and that the 44 other quotes contain 56 irregularities, including additions and amputations of the text, word replacements that change the meaning, and quotes that are not found in the text where Delisle claims they are. He asserts that the magnitude of inaccuracy discourages him from even considering Delisle's work as a basis for his own criticism of Groulx (Les Deux Chanoines - Contradiction et ambivalence dans la pensée de Lionel Groulx, 2003). Delisle admitted to 13 irregularities in the references of her book and later corrected citations for some of the disputed quotations.
Bouchard and Delisle agree that Groulx expressed antisemitic opinions. For Bouchard, these opinions do not taint Groulx's scholarship or secular Quebec nationalism because Groulx's antisemitism is seen as a personal bias unrelated or peripheral to his academic work. Delisle, by contrast, argues that antisemitism is an integral component of Groulx's race-based nationalism and his enthusiasm for right-wing authoritarian governments.
Bibliography
- Delisle, Esther (1993). ISBN 1-895854-01-6.
- Delisle, Esther (1998). Myths, Memories & Lies: Quebec's Intelligentsia and the Fascist Temptation, 1939-1960 (Essais sur l'imprégnation fasciste au Québec). ISBN 1-55207-008-5.
- Delisle, Esther; Malouf, Pierre K. (2004). Le Quatuor d'Asbestos.
- Teboul, Victor (1977). Mythe et images du Juif au Québec. éditions de Lagrave.
References
- ^ Anthony Wilson-Smith. "Quebec's Lt-Gov Resigns". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 23, 2019.