Editing Émile Nelligan (section)

==Biography==
Nelligan was born in [[Montreal]] on December 24, 1879, at 602, rue de La Gauchetière (Annuaire Lovell's de 1879). 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, Béatrice and Gertrude.

A follower of [[Symbolism (movement)|Symbolism]], he produced poetry 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]], he published his first poems in Montreal at the age of 16.

In 1899, Nelligan began to exhibit odd behavior. He was said to have loudly recited poetry to passing strangers and slept in chapels. He was also experiencing hallucinations and he attempted [[suicide]]. He was committed to a mental hospital at the request of his parents. There he was diagnosed with [[dementia praecox]] (now more commonly referred to as schizophrenia). He did not write any poetry after being hospitalized.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poets/nelligan-emile|title=Nelligan, Emile {{!}} Representative Poetry Online|website=rpo.library.utoronto.ca|access-date=2016-05-06}}</ref>

At the time, rumor and speculation suggested that he went insane because of the vast cultural and language differences between his mother and father. In recent years, however, a number of literary critics have theorized that Nelligan may have been [[gay]].<ref>"Émile Nelligan, interné parce que gai?" ''[[Michel Désautels|Désautels]]'', January 14, 2011.</ref> Some of these sources allege that he became mentally ill due to inner conflict between his [[sexual orientation]] and his [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic faith]], while others suggest that he was never insane at all, but was dishonestly committed to the asylum by his family to [[homophobia|escape the stigma of his alleged sexual orientation]].<ref name=dostie>Gaëtan Dostie, [http://ssjb.com/nelligan-et-de-bussieres-crees-par-dantin/ "Nelligan et de Bussières créés par Dantin ?"]. ''Le Patriote''. Republished by the [[Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society]] of Montreal, July 22, 2015.</ref> No biographical sources published during Nelligan's lifetime contain any confirmed record of Nelligan having had any sexual or romantic relationships with either men or women,<ref>Émile J. Talbot, ''Reading Nelligan''. [[McGill-Queen's University Press]], 2002. {{ISBN|0773523189}}.</ref> although some posthumous biographers have suggested that he may have been the lover of poet [[Arthur de Bussières]].<ref name=dostie/> Within the ''École littéraire de Montréal'' circle with which both Nelligan and Bussières were associated, it was believed that Nelligan was confined to the asylum because his mother discovered him and Bussières in bed together,<ref name=dagenais>Domenic Dagenais, ''Grossières indécences: Pratiques et identités homosexuelles à Montréal, 1880-1929''. [[McGill-Queen's University Press]], 2020. {{ISBN|9780228002420}}. p. 205.</ref> although this allegation was not widely publicized until the late 20th century and remains unproven. Conversely, the 1991 biographical film ''[[Nelligan (film)|Nelligan]]'' depicts Nelligan as a celibate [[bisexuality|bisexual]], portraying him as sexually ambivalent in the face of romantic attractions to both Bussières and feminist activist [[Idola Saint-Jean]], and implying that his mother attempted to commit [[incest]] with him.<ref>"A revisionist adjusts the halo: Emile Nelligan; Rather than placing Quebec's beloved tragic poet on a pedestal, director Robert Favreau portrays his subject as a rather gloomy adolescent". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', October 26, 1991.</ref>

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 death in 1941, 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 into English in 1960 by P.F. Widdows. In 1983, [[Fred Cogswell]] translated all his poems in ''The Complete Poems of Émile Nelligan''. In the fall of 2017, Montreal's Vehicle Press will be releasing Marc di Saverio's English translations of Nelligan, Ship of Gold: The Essential Poems of Emile Nelligan.

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.

In her 2013 book ''Le Naufragé du Vaisseau d'or'', Yvette Francoli claimed that [[Louis Dantin]], the publisher of Nelligan's poems, was in fact their real author.<ref>[http://www.lactualite.com/culture/limposture-nelligan/ "L’imposture Nelligan"]. ''[[L'actualité]]'', November 14, 2014.</ref> This claim was also previously advanced by [[Claude-Henri Grignon]] in his 1936 essay ''Les Pamphlets de Valdombre'',<ref name=dostie/> although Dantin himself denied having had anything more than an [[editor|editing]] role in the poems' creation. In 2016, the [[University of Ottawa]]'s literary journal ''Analyses'' published an article by Annette Hayward and Christian Vandendorpe which rejected the claim, based on textual comparisons of the poetry credited to Nelligan with the writings of Dantin.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Annette Hayward|author2=Christian Vandendorpe|title=Dantin et Nelligan au piège de la fiction: ''Le naufragé du Vaisseau d'or'' d'Yvette Francoli|journal= @nalyses|pages=232–327|date=2016|doi=10.18192/analyses.v11i2.1587 |issn=1715-9261 |url=https://uottawa.scholarsportal.info/ojs/index.php/revue-analyses/article/view/1587|doi-access=free}}</ref>