Richard Lebrun

I taught at the University of Ottawa from 1960 to 1966, and then at the University of Manitoba from 1966 until my retirement in 1998. I was named a Senior Scholar in the Department of History inn 1998, and then Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba in 2002. I taught courses in European history, the history of Catholicism, and European intellectual history (especially French intellectual history in the late 18th century and the period of the French Revolution). As a research scholar, the bulk of my research and publications related to Joseph de Maistre. I also served in various administrative positions at the University of Manitoba: Acting Head of the Department of History, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Acting Dean of Graduate Studies, Executive Assistant to the President of the University of Manitoba, Dean of Studies and then Rector of St. Paul's College. I have remained an active, publishing scholar from the time of my retirement to the present. The Canadian Catholic Historical Association at its 2023 Annual General Meeting appointed me as its Honorary President for life.

• PhD, University of Minnesota, 1963
• MA, University of Minnesota, 1957
• BA, St. John's University (Minnesota), 1953

Research interests

• The life and writings of Joseph de Maistre

Research summary

For many years I worked with French colleagues to achieve access to Joseph de Maistre's writings that had remained in the archives of three of his descendants and to make these documents available to researchers. I was a member of the Institution des Etudes Maistriennes and a member of editorial committee of the "Revue des études maistriennes."

• Joseph de Maistre and the Legacy of the Enlightenment, co-edited with Carolina Armenteros (Oxford, SVEC, 2011)
• Joseph de Maistre and His European Readers: From Friedrich von Gentz to Isaiah Berlin, co-edited with Carolina Armenteros (Brill, 2011)
• The Collected Works of Joseph de Maistre, contains the published and unpublished works of Joseph de Maistre, edited, translated, and annotated by Richard Lebrun . A data base maintained by the InteLex Corporation, 2009. Available through libraries that subscribe to the InteLex Past Masters Series.
• Editor, Joseph de Maistre's Life, Thought, and Influence, Selected Studies (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001)
• A translation (with an introduction and notes) of Joseph de Maistre's Examination of the Philosophy of Bacon (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998)
• A translation (with an introduction and notes), Against Rousseau: Joseph de Maistre's Essays "On the State of Nature" and "On the Sovereignty of the People" (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996)
• A translation (with an introduction and notes) of Joseph de Maistre's St. Petersburg Dialogues (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993)
• Editor and translation, Maistre Studies, (University Press of America, 1988) A volume of selections from the Revue des études maistriennes
• Joseph de Maistre: An Intellectual Militant (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988)
• Translation (with an Introduction and critical notes) of Joseph de Maistre's Considerations on France (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1974. Second edition, Cambridge University Press, 1994, with a special paperback reprint for the Chinese market.

• 1993 - George Edward Clark Award for outstanding service, Canadian Catholic Historical Association
• 1989 - Merit Award for outstanding achievement in Research and Scholarly Work, University of Manitoba
• 1955-1957 - National Woodrow Wilson Fellowship

• Catholic-Mennonite Dialogue Group, St. Paul's College and Canadian Mennonite University, 2006-2014
• Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Web Page Editor, 1998-2008
• Visiting Professor, Pontifíca Universidad Católica de São Paulo, August-September 2005
• Visiting Professor, East China Normal University, Shanghai, June 2004
• External Examiner, PhD thesis by Carolina Armenteros, University of Cambridge, December 2004