Between fiction and reality: the chameleonic identity of Esther Brandeau (French)

• In Event: Reading Against the Grain: New Approaches to Jewish Literary Studies

Abstract

According to official history, the Jewish presence in New France was prohibited under the the French Regime. And yet, disguised as a boy and under the name of Jacques Lafargue, Esther Brandeau arrives there in 1738, refuses to convert, returns to the religion of her ancestors and after a year is sent back to France. As peripheral figures in the predominantly Christian world, Jews use several strategies to survive and maintain their heritage, for example, they often change their names and become chameleonic figures who shapeshift to protect themselves by camouflaging their identity to better resemble members of whatever group they are around (Glaser, 2016). Esther's case constitutes, at least officially, the first mention of any Jewish presence in the colony (Anctil, 2017) and this presentation aims to highlight her as she is portrayed in the archives as well as by Pierre Lasry (UNE JUIVE EN NOUVELLE-FRANCE) who wrote the very first novel about this historical character. In addition, I also want to mention other fictional works that focus on the figure of Esther, notably a short story by Naïm Kattan (MY NAME IS ESTHER) and two English Canadian novels by Sharon McKay (ESTHER) and Susan Glickman (THE TALE-TELLER). In depicting the fictionalized fate of Esther, a historical character, the writers make use of the strategies undertaken by the young Jewish girl and emphasize the fact that she changes her gender, appearance, religion and name repeatedly in order to save herself. Thus, we can also observe the relationship between reality and fiction, history and literature or the historian and the writer (Ricoeur, 2000). Furthermore, the story of this first official Jewish presence in New France takes on a feminist dimension by giving voice to a woman and through this fights against the absence of the Jewish woman in Jewish History which has a tendency to be “wiped off the map” (Henry, Taiz, 1983). Finally, my talk will reveal that not only did the Sephardic Jews settle in the Mediterranean basin after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula, but also well beyond Europe, including Canada, which remains rare in the current academic research.

Author

• Marcin Janczak, Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at University of Toronto