EN 3231

Course Number: AP/EN 3231 6.0 A
Title: Modern Quebecois Fiction in Translation
Instructor: Agnes Whitfield
Email: [email protected]
Description:
This course examines the varied and lively fiction of Québec since World War II, from
the traditional realist and politically-oriented texts of the 1950s and 1960s and the
feminist and post-modern texts of the 1970s and 1980s to recent forms of immigrant,
poetic and auto-fiction. Through a broad sampling of representative texts, students will be
encouraged to investigate the links between fictional forms and social, political and
aesthetic contexts, to reflect on similarities and differences between Francophone and
Anglophone writing in the same period, and to explore issues related to the representation
of language, culture, and society, and the construction of individual and collective
subjectivities in a North-American Francophone setting. Texts will be studied in English
translation, so that unilingual students will not be disadvantaged in any way, and
questions of translation will also be addressed.
Course Requirements:
First term research paper (2000 words)
First term reading test
Second term research paper (2000 words)
Second term reading test
Internet postings and participation
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Texts:
AQUIN, Hubert. Next Episode. Translated by Sheila Fischman. Afterword by Jean-Louis
Major. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2001 (first published in French as Prochain
episode in 1965, and in a first English translation by Penny Williams, in 1972). ISBN
978-0-7710-3471-8
BEAULIEU, Victor-Lévy. Jos Connaissant. Trans. Ray Chamberlain. Toronto: Exile
Editions, 1993 (2e edition) (first published in French as Jos Connaissant in 1970).
ISBN 978-0-920428-45-0
BESSETTE, Gérard, Not for Every Eye, Introduction and Revised Translation by Steven
Urquhart. Toronto: Exile Editions, 2010 (first published in French as Le libraire in 1960,
and in a first English translation by Glen Shortliffe in 1977). ISBN 978-1-55096-149-2
BLAIS, Marie-Claire. A Season in the Life of Emmanuel, Trans. Derek Coltman, Introd.
Priscila Uppal, Illust. Mary Meigs. Toronto: Exile Editions, 2009 (first published in
French as Une saison dans la vie d’Emmanuel in 1965, and also available in translation in
McClelland & Stewart’s New Canadian Library). ISBN 978-1-55096-118-8
BROSSARD, Nicole. Mauve Desert. Trans. Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood. Toronto:
Coach House Press, 1987 (first published in French as Désert mauve in 1987). ISBN
9781552451724
HÉBERT, Anne. In the Shadow of the Wind. Trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: Stoddart,
1983 (first published in French as Les Fous de Bassan in 1982). ISBN 0773720162
POULIN, Jacques. Volkswagen Blues Trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: McClelland &
Stewart, 1988 (first published in French as Volkswagen Blues in 1984). ISBN
9781896951423
PROULX, Monique. Aurora Montrealis. Trans. Matt Cohen. Vancouver: Douglas &
McIntyre, 1997 (first published in French as Les Aurores montréales in 1996). ISBN 9781-55054-258-5
ROY, Gabrielle. The Cashier, Trans. Harry Binsse. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart,
1955 (first published in French as Alexandre Chenevert in 1954). ISBN 978-0-77109855-0
THUY, Kim. Ru. Trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: Random House Canada, 2012 (first
published in French as Ru in 2009). ISBN 978-0-307-35970-4
TREMBLAY, Lise. The Hunting Ground. Trans Linda Gaboriau. Vancouver:
Talonbooks, 2006 (first published in French as La héronnière in 2003). ISBN 0-88922534-6
Open To:
Spaces are reserved for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year EN/PRWR/ENPR/CRWR
Honours students until July 16th