Louis Dantin

{{Infobox writer

| name = Louis Dantin

| image = Louis_Dantin.jpg

| birth_name = Eugène Seers

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|11|28}}

| birth_place = Beauharnois, Canada East

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|01|17|1865|11|28}}

| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts

| resting_place =

| occupation = writer, editor

| language = French

| nationality = Canadian

| citizenship =

| education = Collège de Montréal

| alma_mater =

| period = 1920s-1940s

| genre = poetry, novels, essays

| subject =

| movement =

| notable_works = Poètes de l'Amérique française

| spouse = Clotilde Lacroix

}}

Louis Dantin was the pen name of Eugène Seers (November 28, 1865 – January 17, 1945), a Canadian writer and editor from Quebec.[http://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-Seers "Eugène Seers"], Encyclopædia Britannica. He is historically most noted as the original editor and publisher of the poetry of Émile Nelligan, although he also published numerous works as a poet, novelist and essayist in his own right.

Life

Originally from Beauharnois, Quebec, he studied at the Collège de Montréal and later attended seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest. Associated with the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, he wrote religious poetry and short stories during that era. He was later associated with the École littéraire de Montréal, becoming acquainted there with writers such as Émile Nelligan and Arthur de Bussières. He subsequently left the priesthood in 1903, marrying Clotilde Lacroix and moving to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a printer for Harvard University Press. He resided in Boston for the remainder of his life, although he continued to publish French language literary work in Quebec. Most of his published work was as an essayist and critic, including volumes such as Poètes de l'Amérique française (1928) and Gloses critiques (1931), although he also published a volume of poetry (Le Coffret de Crusoé, 1932) and a posthumous novel (Les Enfances de Fanny, 1951). Several volumes of his correspondence with other Quebec writers were also published, as well as several posthumous volumes of poetry from his archives.

Controversy

Two writers, Claude-Henri Grignon in his 1936 Les Pamphlets de Valdombre and Yvette Francoli in her 2013 Le Naufragé du Vaisseau d'or, have alleged that Dantin was the actual author of most of the poetry that is credited to Nelligan.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. Dantin denied Grignon's claims in several of his letters to other writers.Fonds Gabriel Nadeau. BAnQ. In 2016, the University of Ottawa's literary journal, @nalyses, published an article by Annette Hayward and Christian Vandendorpe that rejected the claim based on textual comparisons of the poetry that is credited to Nelligan with Dantin's writings.{{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|url-access=subscription}} In 2021, Pierre Hébert arrived at the same conclusion in his Une biochronique on Dantin.Pierre Hébert, Vie(s) d'Eugène Seers/Louis Dantin. Une biochronique littéraire, Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, 2021, {{ISBN|978-2-7637-4995-2}}, 583 p.