Grumpy 1950s-style novelist, fine essayist and better political commentator who pointed out that Quebec, in its efforts to secure the purity of its indigenous culture and national character, borders on the same goofy chauvinist excesses that energized Fascist regimes during the 1930s. Quebec nationalists and their English-language sympathizers regularly reviled Richler, thus demonstrating the accuracy of his claims. Due to his grumpy old man personality, Richler probably should have been kept away from the general public in his last years, along with his two equally grumpy but less talented sons, Noah and Jacob.