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

by Michel Bock, Ferdinanda Van Gennip (Translator)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780776621562
Publisher:	University of Ottawa Press
Publication date:	04/29/2014
Series:	Biographies et mémoires
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	282
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Michel Bock is Associate Professor of History at the University of Ottawa and holds a Research Chair in Canadian Francophonie. His research focuses on the intellectual and political history of French Canada. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Michel-Brunet, the Prix Champlain, and the Governor General's Literary Award.

Ferdinanda Van Gennip is a professional translator. Her published translations include works of Mario Cardinal (Breaking Point: Québec/Canada, the 1995 Referendum), John Monbourquette (How to Discover Your Personal Mission; How to Befriend your Shadow) and Simone Weil (The Afflicted Genius of France).

Michel Bock is Associate Professor of History at the University of Ottawa and holds a Research Chair in Canadian Francophonie. His research focuses on the intellectual and political history of French Canada. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Michel-Brunet, the Prix Champlain, and the Governor General's Literary Award.
Ferdinanda Van Gennip is a professional translator. Her published translations include works of Mario Cardinal (Breaking Point: Québec/Canada, the 1995 Referendum), John Monbourquette (How to Discover Your Personal Mission; How to Befriend your Shadow) and Simone Weil (The Afflicted Genius of France).

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 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, “Americanness” and the French minorities Québec and the French minorities in recent historiography CHAPTER TWO – THE FRENCH MINORITIES: VESTIGES 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 founding peoples theory The minorities and the pact of 1867 The minorities in the Anglo-Protestant world CHAPTER THREE – QUÉBEC AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE 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 – 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 17 Groulx intervenes in the Franco-Ontarian crisis The sou des écoles franco-ontariennes The neuvième croisade 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 how it was received 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 symposium Reaction to the 1922 symposium Lionel Groulx, the French minorities and the idea of independence during the 1930s 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: Groulx sees his intellectual heritage questioned The intellectual context of the postwar period Groulx, the neo-nationalists and the burial of the French minorities Groulx and the minorities: ongoing relationships 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 SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX