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It is the spring of 1963. The young Quebec author, Marie-Claire Blais, has just won a coveted Guggenheim fellowship. She chooses Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the place where she will begin her writer's apprenticeship with her mentor, Edmund Wilson. American Notebooks is much more than a fascinating autobiographical account of the intellectual flowering of a great writer. An album of exquisitely drawn literary portraits of companions, intellectuals, writers, musicians, artists and social activists of the period: Edmund and Elena Wilson, Mary Meigs, Maud Morgan, Barbara Deming, Truman Capote, her first Quebec publisher, now Senator, Jacques Hebert, and many others, it also introduces many of the real life personalities who have inspired her fictional characters.
A propos de l'auteur
Marie-Claire Blais Marie-Claire Blais (1939-2021) was a prolific and influential Canadian novelist, playwright, and poet, whose career spanned over six decades. Born in Quebec City, she published her first novel,
La Belle Bête (
Mad Shadows), at the age of 20, which quickly established her as a formidable voice in Québécois literature. Over her lifetime, Blais authored nearly 30 novels, along with numerous plays, poetry collections, essays, and an autobiography.
Throughout her illustrious career, Blais received numerous accolades, including four Governor General's Literary Awards, the Prix Médicis, the Gilles-Corbeil Prize, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. She was also honored as a Companion of the Order of Canada and a Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France, recognizing her significant contributions to literature and culture. She was invited, as one of the very few foreigners allowed, to join Belgium's Academy of French Language and Literature.
Linda Gaboriau Linda Gaboriau is an award-winning literary translator based in Montreal. Her translations of plays by Quebec's most prominent playwrights have been published and produced across Canada and abroad. In her work as a literary manager and dramaturge, she has directed numerous translation residencies and international exchange projects. She was the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. Most recently she won the 2010 Governor General's Award for
Forests, her translation of the play by Wajdi Mouawad.
Résumé
It is the spring of 1963. The young Quebec author Marie-Claire Blais, bursting with energy and talent, has just won a coveted Guggenheim fellowship. She chooses Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the place where she will begin her writer’s apprenticeship with her mentor, Edmund Wilson.
American Notebooks is much more than a fascinating autobiographical account of the intellectual flowering of a great writer. An album of exquisitely drawn literary portraits of companions, intellectuals, writers, musicians, artists and social activists of the period—Edmund and Elena Wilson; Mary Meigs; Maud Maugan; Barbara Deming; Truman Capote; Jacques Hébert, her first Quebec publisher, then senator; and many others—it also introduces many of the real life personalities who have inspired her fictional characters.
