Seeking an "Entente Cordiale": Prosper Bender, French Canada, and Intercultural Brokership in the Nineteenth Century

Lacroix, Patrick

A physician by training, Prosper Bender (1844–1917) achieved prominence through his written work on French Canadians. In the 1870s, he joined the flourishing literary scene of Quebec City, a period that culminated with his Literary Sheaves (1881) and Old and New Canada (1882). Then, for more than a quarter-century, Bender lived in Boston, where he practiced homeopathic medicine and again played the part of an intercultural broker. Doubts concerning his native land’s future led him to promote the American annexation of Canada; he also wrote for American readers articles on French-Canadian culture. More than a century later, Bender’s body of work reflects the challenges facing post-Confederation Canada and the struggle for mutual understanding between French Canadians and their English-speaking neighbours.

University of Toronto Press

2018

en

Journal Article

2

Seeking an "Entente Cordiale"

22

0021-9495

Journal of Canadian Studies

52

381-403

Toronto