It has been suggested that Athanase Tallard, a character in Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes, is based specifically on Robert Owen, a well-known entrepreneur and industrialist of nineteenth-century England. Whether this is factual or not, the historical analogue sheds valuable light on Athanase Tallard's character and on his role in MacLennan's novel, for Owen was a man who neither achieved great practical success not created an original system of thought. His contribution lay in his humanity and in his belief that every person had a right to full humanity. Certainly, there could be no more apt description of what Athanase Tallard represents in Two Solitudes.
