In 1885, Louis Riel was executed for treason by the Canadian government. Largely pilloried in the 60 years after his death, Riel has, since 1950, largely been rehabilitated into a Father of Confederation. Since Chester Brown is acutely aware of the fact that Riel has often been used to achieve certain political and social ends, his own Riel never achieves an unambiguous historical resolution.
Brown’s Louis Riel: A Comic-strip Biography draws on the vast array of literature on Riel, the much-debated Canadian historical figure, notably Maggie Siggins’ Riel: A Life of Revolution (1994), and Thomas Flanagan’s Louis Riel and the Rebellion: 1885 Reconsidered (rev. 2000). The biography contributes to the ongoing mythology that is the life of the Métis Louis Riel — which is to say that
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Citation: Lesk, Andrew. "Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23246, accessed 25 November 2024.]
