''Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Country'' is a book by Canadian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel ''St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...

. Published in 1992, it parodied the evolution of language policy in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, and spoofed the Canadian province of Quebec's language laws that restrict the use of the English language. The book, a best-seller, grew out of a long article published in a September 1991 issue of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

''. According to the book cover:

With a sure satirical eye, Richler takes a look at what he calls "the western world's goofiest and most unnecessary political crisis.
English-speaking Quebecers English-speaking Quebecers, also known as Anglo-Quebecers, English Quebecers, or Anglophone Quebecers (all alternately spelt Quebeckers; in French ''Anglo-Québécois'', ''Québécois Anglophone'') or simply Anglos in a Quebec context, are a ...
endure Draconian language laws prohibiting English or bilingual signs in Montreal because they are seen as an affront to the city's ''visage linguistique''.

Reaction

Following the publication of ''Oh Canada! Oh Quebec!'' Richler faced a great deal of criticism from Quebec nationalists in the French media and some in English-Canada. Pierrette Venne, a Bloc Québécois MP called for the book to be banned. Daniel Latouche compared the book to ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for G ...

''. Jean-François Lisée said "The contempt that he has for Quebecers, and for the facts, that trickles from every page, hurt me, as a Quebecer, ..as a journalist also, as an author, the

intellectual dishonesty Intellectual honesty is an applied method of problem solving, characterised by an unbiased, honest attitude, which can be demonstrated in a number of different ways: * One's personal beliefs or politics do not interfere with the pursuit of truth ...

with which he plays with the facts, he makes comparisons that are absolutely unacceptable, it gave me an enormous headache to read this book, it stopped me from sleeping. ..Evidently, here in Quebec, we know that he exaggerates, but someone has to say it to English Canadians". He did so in a televised debate on the then-fledgling

CBC Newsworld CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...

network, facing Richler."Controverse autour du livre Oh Canada Oh Québec!" video
Archives, Société Radio-Canada, March 31, 1992, retrieved September 22, 2006

Nadia Khouri Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: U ...

believes that there was an

anti-semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

undertone in some of the reaction to Richler, emphasizing that he wasn't "one of us," as Richler was Jewish. or that he wasn't a "real Quebecer." Additionally some passages were deliberately misquoted, such as the section about Quebec women being like "sows".Khouri, Nadia. ''Qui a peur de Mordecai Richler.'' Montréal: Éditions Balzac, 1995. Other French writers also thought there had been an overreaction, including Jean-Hugues Roy, Étienne Gignac, Serge-Henri Vicière, and Dorval Brunelle.

References

{{Authority control 1992 non-fiction books Antisemitism in Quebec Books by Mordecai Richler Canadian nationalism Canadian political books Quebec language policy Books about cultural politics

Reaction

See also

References