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Au revoir, Mordecai Richler
Canadians lost a considerable writer on July 3, 2001. But more than being a writer, Mordecai Richler was a husband and a father. On behalf of the staff of the National Library of Canada, I would like to express our most sincere condolences to his family. Mordecai Richler brought high visibility to the profession of writing. He taught the writer three fundamental lessons: 1 - Work, work, work: that’s what inspiration is all about. 2 - Courage: a writer must have the courage to say what he thinks. A writer’s duty is to contribute to the pluralism of thinking versus the monolithic thinking that surrounds him or her. 3 - Astute observation: Mr. Richler would never encounter an idea without putting it through the grinder of his criticism, his satire, his humour. Mordecai Richler never thought he had to be the most likeable person in the country, and he went his own way as a free man and as a free thinker. He certainly believed in his freedom of expression and became frustrated when others chose not to use that right. We’ll be waiting for his reports about life in heaven - they should be spicy and funny. And if he happens to bump into a Quebec nationalist up there, well - he might just believe that he is in Hell!
Roch Carrier July 4, 2001 |
