SOURCE: Aubin, Benoit. “Mordecai Was Here.” Maclean's 114, no. 29 (16 July 2001): 20-1.

In the following essay, Aubin recounts his relationship with Richler and offers some reminiscences of Richler's life and career.

Two different Mordecai Richlers passed away last week. CBC TV's The National opened its program on Tuesday with the death of a national icon and stayed with the story for several minutes; for Radio-Canada, the death of an important author came third in the lineup, after Slobodan Milosevic and Stockwell Day. The Montreal Gazette gave the news half of its front page, with a huge picture; La Presse mentioned the story on page 1, with just a few lines of text. The Prime Minister of Canada paid tribute to Richler; the premier of Quebec passed the buck to his culture minister.

English-Canadians had lost a hero; French-Canadians had lost a villain.

Richler's acerbic pen had gained him dedicated, and resentful...