Émile Nelligan



Émile Nelligan (December 24, 1879 – November 18, 1941) was a francophone poet from Quebec, Canada.

Biography
Nelligan was born in Montreal on December 24, 1879 at 602, rue de La Gauchetière. He was the first son of David Nelligan, who arrived in Quebec from Dublin, Ireland at the age of 12. His mother was Émilie Amanda Hudon, from Rimouski, Quebec. He had two sisters, Eva and Gertrude.

A follower of Symbolism, his poetry was profoundly influenced by Octave Crémazie, Louis Fréchette, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Georges Rodenbach, Maurice Rollinat and Edgar Allan Poe. A precocious talent like Arthur Rimbaud, his first poems were published in Montreal when he was 16 years old.

In 1899, Nelligan suffered a major psychotic breakdown from which he never recovered. He never had a chance to finish his first poetry work which was to be entitled Le Récital des Anges according to his last notes.

At the time, rumor and speculation was that he went insane because of the vast cultural and language differences between his mother and father; however, recent literary analysts and biographers think his difficulties might have been related to homosexuality.

In 1903, his collected poems were published to great acclaim in Canada. He may not have been aware that he was counted among French Canada's greatest poets.

On his passing in 1941, Émile Nelligan was interred in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Quebec. Following his death, the public became increasingly interested in Nelligan. His incomplete work spawned a kind of romantic legend. He was first translated to English in 1960 by P.F. Widdows. In 1983, Fred Cogswell translated all his poems in The Complete Poems of Émile Nelligan.

Émile Nelligan is considered one of the greatest poets of French Canada. Several schools and libraries in Quebec are named after him and Hotel Nelligan is a four-star hotel in Old Montreal at the corner of Rue St. Paul and Rue St. Sulpice.

Le Vaisseau d'Or
C'était un grand Vaisseau taillé dans l'or massif: Ses mâts touchaient l'azur, sur des mers inconnues; La Cyprine d'amour, cheveux épars, chairs nues, S'étalait à sa proue, au soleil excessif.

Mais il vint une nuit frapper le grand écueil Dans l'Océan trompeur où chantait la Sirène, Et le naufrage horrible inclina sa carène Aux profondeurs du Gouffre, immuable cercueil.

Ce fut un Vaisseau d'Or, dont les flancs diaphanes Révélaient des trésors que les marins profanes, Dégoût, Haine et Névrose, entre eux ont disputés.

''Que reste-t-il de lui dans la tempête brève? Qu'est devenu mon coeur, navire déserté? Hélas! Il a sombré dans l'abîme du Rêve!''

Christ en Croix
Je remarquais toujours ce grand Jésus de plâtre Dressé comme un pardon au seuil du vieux couvent, Échafaud solennel à geste noir, devant Lequel je me courbais, saintement idolâtre. Or, l'autre soir, à l'heure où le cri-cri folâtre, Par les prés assombris, le regard bleu rêvant, Récitant Eloa, les cheveux dans le vent, Comme il sied à l'Éphèbe esthétique et bellâtre, J'aperçus, adjoignant des débris de parois, Un gigantesque amas de lourde vieille croix Ed de plâtre écroulé parmi les primevères ; Et je restai là, morne, avec les yeux pensifs, Et j'entendais en moi des marteaux convulsifs Renfoncer les clous noirs des intimes Calvaires ! Translation by Konrad Bongard

The gypsum Jesus always stalled me in my steps Like a curse at the old convent door; Crouching meekly, I bend to exalt an idol Whose forgiveness I do not implore.

Not long ago, at the crickets' hour, I roamed dim Meadows in a restful reverie Reciting 'Eloa', with my hair worn by the wind And no audience save for the trees.

But now, as I lie with knees bent beneath Christ's scaffold, I see his crumbling mortar cross With its plaster buried in the roses, and am saddened -

For if I listen close enough, I can almost hear The sound of coal-black nails being wrung in To his wrists, the savage piercing of Longinus' spear.

Tribute
Several schools and libraries of Quebec bear the name of Émile Nelligan. Since 1979, the Prix Émile-Nelligan rewards the author of a French-language poetry book written by a young poet in North America.

On June 7, 2005, the Fondation Émile-Nelligan and the City of Montreal inaugurated a bust to his memory in the Carré Saint-Louis. There is also a monument to his memory in Quebec City.

The poetry of Nelligan inspired numerous music composers:


 * André Gagnon. Nelligan, Toronto: Disques SRC, 2005, 2 disks (Concert recorded at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of the Place des Arts in Montréal, on February 18 and 19 2005)
 * Gilbert Patenaude. Compagnons des Amériques : poètes québécois mis en musique, Montréal: Disques XXI, 2005, 1 disk
 * Jean Chatillon. Clair de lune sur les eaux du rêve, Bécancour: Éditions de l'Écureuil noir, 2001 (1 disk)
 * Jacques Hétu. Le tombeau de Nelligan : mouvement symphonique opus 52, Saint-Nicolas: Doberman-Yppan, 1995 (1 partition: 44 pages)
 * John Craton.  Jardin sentimental : Cinq poèmes d’Émile Nelligan, Bedford, Ind: Wolfhead Music, 2004, 18 pages.
 * André Gagnon and Claude Léveillée. Monique Leyrac chante Emile Nelligan, Verdun: Disques Mérite, 1991, 1 disk
 * André Gagnon. Nelligan : livret d'opéra, Montréal: Leméac, 1990, 90 pages (text by Michel Tremblay)
 * Jacques Hétu. Les abîmes du rêve : opus 36, Montréal: Sociéte nouvelle d'enregistrement, 1987, duration 30:21
 * Richard G. Boucher. Anges maudits, veuillez m'aider! : cantate dramatique sur des poèmes d'Émile Nelligan, Montréal: Radio Canada international, 1981, duration 38 min.
 * Omer Létourneau. Violon de villanelle : choeur pour voix de femmes, Québec: Procure générale de musique enr., 1940 (1 partition: 8 pages)

Collections

 * 1903 - Émile Nelligan et son œuvre, Montréal: Beauchemin (Louis Dantin) online
 * 1952 - Poésies complètes : 1896-1899, Montréal: Fides (Luc Lacourcière)
 * 1966 - Poèmes choisis, Montréal: Fides (Eloi de Grandmont)
 * 1980 - Poèmes choisis, Montréal: Fides (Roger Chamberland)
 * 1982 - 31 Poèmes autographes : 2 carnets d'hôpital, 1938, Trois-Rivières: Forges
 * 1991 - Le Récital des anges : 50 poèmes d'Émile Nelligan, Trois-Rivières: Forges (Claude Beausoleil)
 * 1991 - Oeuvres complètes, Montréal: Fides, 2 volumes (Réjean Robidoux and Paul Wyczynski)
 * 1991 - Poèmes autographes, Montréal: Fides, 1991, (Paul Wyczynski)
 * 1995 - Poésie en version originale, Montréal: Triptyque (André Marquis)
 * 1997 - Poèmes choisis : le récital de l'ange, Saint-Hippolyte: Noroît (Jocelyne Felx)
 * 1998 - Poésies complètes, La Table Ronde: Paris, 1998

In translation

 * * P.F. Widdows (1960). Selected Poems by Émile Nelligan, Toronto: Ryerson
 * * Fred Cogswell (1983). The Complete Poems of Émile Nelligan, Montréal: Harvest House. ISBN 0887722180

In English

 * Jacques Michon. "Émile Nelligan Biography (1879–1941)", in Literature Reference: American Literature, English Literature, Classics & Modern Fiction, 2009
 * Nina Milner. "Émile Nelligan (1879-1941)", in Canadian Poetry Archive, November 28, 2003
 * Talbot, Emile (2002). Reading Nelligan, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 221 p. ISBN 0-7735-2318-9


 * P.F. Widdows (1960). Selected Poems by Émile Nelligan, Toronto: Ryerson, 39 p.

In French

 * Sui Caedere, "Thrène" (2009). Music album is a tribute to Quebec’s damned poet Émile Nelligan, a man who saw beyond the dream, beyond the paradox of life. Contains 9 haunting tracks.
 * Lemieux, Pierre Hervé (2004). Nelligan et Françoise : l'intrigue amoureuse la plus singulière de la fin du 19e siècle québécois : biographie reconstituée à l'occasion du centième anniversiare de la publication du recueil de poésie d'Émile Nelligan, 1904-2004, Lévis: Fondation littéraire Fleur de lys, 537 p. ISBN 2-89612-025-4
 * Wyczynski, Paul (2002). Album Nelligan : une biographie en images, Saint-Laurent: Fides, 2002, 435 pages ISBN 2-7621-2191-4
 * Wyczynski, Paul (1999). Émile Nelligan : biographie, Saint-Laurent: Bibliothèque Québécoise, 1999, 345 p. ISBN 2-89406-150-1 (édition originale : Nelligan, 1879-1941, Montréal: Fides, 1987)
 * Beausoleil, Claude. "Émile Nelligan et le temps", in Nuit blanche, numero 74, Spring 1999
 * Beaudoin, Réjean (1997). Une Étude des Poésies d'Émile Nelligan, Montréal: Boréal, 106 p.
 * Vanasse, André (1996). Émile Nelligan, le spasme de vivre, Montréal: XYZ, 201 p. ISBN 2-89261-179-2 (biographie romancée)
 * Lemieux, Pierre H. "La nouvelle édition critique de Nelligan", in Lettres québécoises, numero 66, Summer 1992
 * Whitfield, Agnès (1988). "Nelligan, de l'homme à l'œuvre", in Lettres québécoises, numéro 49, Spring 1988
 * Courteau, Bernard (1986). Nelligan n'était pas fou!, Montréal: Louise Courteau, 161 p. ISBN 2892390354
 * Courteau, Bernard (1982). Pour un plaisir de verbe : carnets et cahiers d'Emile Nelligan, Montréal: Editions Emile-Nelligan, 74 p. ISBN 2920217119
 * Bertrand, Réal (1980). Émile Nelligan, Montréal: Lidec, 62 p. ISBN 276083249X
 * Wyczynski, Paul (1973). Bibliographie descriptive et critique d'Emile Nelligan, Ottawa : Editions de l'Université d'Ottawa, 319 p. ISBN 077663951X
 * Wyczynski, Paul (1965). Poésie et symbole : perspectives du symbolisme : Emile Nelligan, Saint-Denys Garneau, Anne Hébert : le langage des arbres, 	Montréal: Librairie Déom, 252 p.
 * Wyczynski, Paul (1960). Émile Nelligan : sources et originalité de son oeuvre, Ottawa: Éditions de l'Université d'Ottawa, 349 p.