Gabrielle Roy
Encyclopedia
Gabrielle Roy, CC
, FRSC (March 22, 1909 – July 13, 1983) was a French Canadian
author.
(now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba
, Roy was educated at Saint Joseph's Academy. After training as a teacher at The Winnipeg Normal School, she taught in rural schools in Marchand and Cardinal and was then appointed to Provencher School in Saint Boniface.
With her savings she was able to spend some time in Europe
, but was forced to return to Canada in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II
. She returned with some of her works near completion, but settled in Quebec
to earn a living as a sketch artist while continuing to write.
Her first novel, Bonheur d'occasion (1945), gave a starkly realistic portrait of the lives of people in Saint-Henri
, a working-class neighbourhood of Montreal
. The novel caused many Quebeckers to take a hard look at themselves, and is regarded as the novel that helped lay the foundation for Quebec's Quiet Revolution
of the 1960s. The original French version won her the prestigious Prix Femina in 1947. Published in English as The Tin Flute
(1947), the book won the 1947 Governor General's Award
for fiction as well as the Royal Society of Canada's
Lorne Pierce Medal
. Distributed in the United States
, where it sold more than three-quarters of a million copies, the Literary Guild of America made The Tin Flute a feature book of the month in 1947. The book garnered so much attention that Roy returned to Manitoba to escape the publicity.
There are two French
versions of Bonheur d'occasion. The first was published in 1945 by Société des Éditions Pascal in two volumes. This version was translated in 1947 by Hannah Josephson, who removed several short passages from the English
version. In 1965, Librairie Beauchemin published an abridged French version eliminating a number of passages. This second version was translated by Alan Brown in 1980. As a result, there has never been an unabridged version of The Tin Flute published in English.
In August 1947, she married Marcel Carbotte, a Saint Boniface doctor, and the couple set off for Europe where Carbotte studied gynecology and Roy spent her time writing.
Another of her novels brought additional critical acclaim. Alexandre Chenevert (1954), is a dark and emotional story that is ranked as one of the most significant works of psychological realism
in the history of Canadian literature
.
There is a quote by her on the back of the Canadian $20 bill that reads: "Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?"
She is considered by many to be one of the most important francophone
writers in Canadian history and one of the most influential Canadian authors. In 1963, she was on a panel that gave the Montreal World's Fair, Expo 67
, its theme: Terres des hommes or in English Man and His World. It was her suggestion to use Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
's 1939 book title as the organizing theme.
Gabrielle Roy died at the age of seventy-four. Her autobiography, titled La Détresse et l'enchantement, was published posthumously in 1984. Translated into English as Enchantment and Sorrow. It covers the years from her childhood in Manitoba to the time when she settled in Quebec. The movie "Tramp at the Door" is dedicated to her and supposedly depicts her childhood.
She won the Governor General's Award
three times, the Prix David twice, the Prix Duvernay and the Molson Prize.
The National Library of Canada
has preserved a collection of her materials covering the years 1940 to 1983, including manuscripts, typescripts, galleys of published and unpublished works such as La Rivière sans repos, Cet été qui chantait, Un jardin au bout du monde, Ces enfants de ma vie, and La Détresse et l'enchantement, as well as business and personal correspondence, business records, and memorabilia.
This article states that Gabrielle Roy settled in Quebec after staying In Europe. In fact, she came to Montreal and stayed from 1939 to 1947, according to her biography in "Three Voices" by Joan Hind-Smith, Clark Irwin publishers 1975.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, FRSC (March 22, 1909 – July 13, 1983) was a French Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
author.
Biography
Born in Saint BonifaceSaint Boniface, Manitoba
Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg, home to much of the Franco-Manitoban community. It features such landmarks as the Cathédrale de Saint Boniface , Boulevard Provencher, the Provencher Bridge, Esplanade Riel, St. Boniface Hospital, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the Royal...
(now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Roy was educated at Saint Joseph's Academy. After training as a teacher at The Winnipeg Normal School, she taught in rural schools in Marchand and Cardinal and was then appointed to Provencher School in Saint Boniface.
With her savings she was able to spend some time in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, but was forced to return to Canada in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She returned with some of her works near completion, but settled in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
to earn a living as a sketch artist while continuing to write.
Her first novel, Bonheur d'occasion (1945), gave a starkly realistic portrait of the lives of people in Saint-Henri
Saint-Henri
Saint-Henri is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest.Saint-Henri is usually considered to be bounded to the east by avenue Atwater, to the west by Autoroute 15, to the north by Autoroute 720, and to the south by the Lachine Canal.- Description...
, a working-class neighbourhood of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. The novel caused many Quebeckers to take a hard look at themselves, and is regarded as the novel that helped lay the foundation for Quebec's Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
of the 1960s. The original French version won her the prestigious Prix Femina in 1947. Published in English as The Tin Flute
The Tin Flute
The Tin Flute , Gabrielle Roy’s first novel, is a classic of Canadian fiction...
(1947), the book won the 1947 Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
for fiction as well as the Royal Society of Canada's
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
Lorne Pierce Medal
Lorne Pierce Medal
The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French...
. Distributed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where it sold more than three-quarters of a million copies, the Literary Guild of America made The Tin Flute a feature book of the month in 1947. The book garnered so much attention that Roy returned to Manitoba to escape the publicity.
There are two French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
versions of Bonheur d'occasion. The first was published in 1945 by Société des Éditions Pascal in two volumes. This version was translated in 1947 by Hannah Josephson, who removed several short passages from the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version. In 1965, Librairie Beauchemin published an abridged French version eliminating a number of passages. This second version was translated by Alan Brown in 1980. As a result, there has never been an unabridged version of The Tin Flute published in English.
In August 1947, she married Marcel Carbotte, a Saint Boniface doctor, and the couple set off for Europe where Carbotte studied gynecology and Roy spent her time writing.
Another of her novels brought additional critical acclaim. Alexandre Chenevert (1954), is a dark and emotional story that is ranked as one of the most significant works of psychological realism
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
in the history of Canadian literature
Canadian literature
Canadian literature is literature originating from Canada. Collectively it is often called CanLit. Some criticism of Canadian literature has focused on nationalistic and regional themes, although this is only a small portion of Canadian Literary criticism...
.
There is a quote by her on the back of the Canadian $20 bill that reads: "Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?"
She is considered by many to be one of the most important francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
writers in Canadian history and one of the most influential Canadian authors. In 1963, she was on a panel that gave the Montreal World's Fair, Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
, its theme: Terres des hommes or in English Man and His World. It was her suggestion to use Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
's 1939 book title as the organizing theme.
Gabrielle Roy died at the age of seventy-four. Her autobiography, titled La Détresse et l'enchantement, was published posthumously in 1984. Translated into English as Enchantment and Sorrow. It covers the years from her childhood in Manitoba to the time when she settled in Quebec. The movie "Tramp at the Door" is dedicated to her and supposedly depicts her childhood.
Awards and recognition
- 1946 - La Médaille de l'académie des lettres du Québec
- 1947 - Prix Femina for Bonheur d'occasion (the Tin Flute)
- 1947 - Governor General's Award for Fiction for the Tin Flute
- 1947 - Royal Society of Canada's Lorne Peace Medal for the Tin Flute
- 1967 - Companion of the Order of Canada
- 1979 - Courte-Queue, book design and illustrations by François Olivier, was awarded the Canada Council Children's Literature Prize (translated by Alan Brown in 1980 as Cliptail).
- 2004 - On September 29, 2004, the Bank of CanadaBank of CanadaThe Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...
issued a $20 bank noteCanadian twenty-dollar billThe Canadian $20 bill is the most common banknote of the Canadian dollar; it is the main banknote dispensed from Canadian automatic banking machines . The Canadian $20 bill was introduced on September 29, 2004 as part of the Canadian Journey Series....
which included a quotation from her 1961 book The Hidden Mountain (La Montagne secrète). - 2007 - Children of My HeartChildren of My HeartChildren of My Heart is a novel by Gabrielle Roy, published in 1977. The novel, Roy's last published work of fiction, was originally published in French as Ces enfants de ma vie....
was selected for the 2007 edition of Canada ReadsCanada ReadsCanada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.-Overview:During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles. The debate is broadcast over a series...
She won the Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
three times, the Prix David twice, the Prix Duvernay and the Molson Prize.
The National Library of Canada
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...
has preserved a collection of her materials covering the years 1940 to 1983, including manuscripts, typescripts, galleys of published and unpublished works such as La Rivière sans repos, Cet été qui chantait, Un jardin au bout du monde, Ces enfants de ma vie, and La Détresse et l'enchantement, as well as business and personal correspondence, business records, and memorabilia.
Schools named after the author
- École/Collège régional Gabrielle-RoyÉcole/Collège régional Gabrielle-RoyÉcole/Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy, built in 1984, is a French-language high school in Île-des-Chênes, Manitoba, Canada. It gathers pupils from the communities of Île-des-Chênes, Lorette, Saint-Norbert, La Salle, Saint-Adolphe, Ste-Agathe, Dufresne, Niverville, Grande-Point and Ste-Genevieve...
, a French-language combined elementary and high school in Île-des-Chênes, Manitoba, Canada - École élémentaire publique Gabrielle-Roy, a French-language elementary school in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
- École Gabrielle-Roy, a French-language elementary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- École Gabrielle-Roy, a French-language combined elementary and high school in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
- École Publique Gabrielle-Roy, a Francophone K-12 school in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- CEGEP de l'Outaouais Campus Gabrielle-Roy (Gatineau), a French-language CEGEP (provincial college) in the Province of Québec
This article states that Gabrielle Roy settled in Quebec after staying In Europe. In fact, she came to Montreal and stayed from 1939 to 1947, according to her biography in "Three Voices" by Joan Hind-Smith, Clark Irwin publishers 1975.
Selected writings
- The Tin FluteThe Tin FluteThe Tin Flute , Gabrielle Roy’s first novel, is a classic of Canadian fiction...
(Bonheur d'occasion) (1945) - Where Nests the Water Hen (La Petite Poule d'Eau) (1950)
- The Cashier (Alexandre Chenevert) (1954)
- Street of RichesStreet of RichesStreet of Riches is a novel by the Canadian author Gabrielle Roy.Largely autobiographical, it traces the growth and development of a young girl into an accomplished writer. Like much of Roy's fiction, it includes a very autobiographical style and weaves vignettes into a tapestry of the specific...
(Rue Deschambault) (1955) - The Hidden Mountain (La Montagne secrète) (1961)
- The Road Past Altamont (La Route d'Altamont) (1966)
- Windflower (La Rivière sans repos) (1970)
- Enchanted Summer (Cet été qui chantait) (1972)
- Garden in the Wind (Un jardin au bout du monde) (1975)
- My Cow Bossie (Ma vache Bossie) (1976)
- Children of My HeartChildren of My HeartChildren of My Heart is a novel by Gabrielle Roy, published in 1977. The novel, Roy's last published work of fiction, was originally published in French as Ces enfants de ma vie....
(Ces Enfants de ma vie) (1977) - The Fragile Lights of Earth (Fragiles lumières de la terre) (1978)
- Cliptail (Courte-Queue) (1979)
- Enchantment and Sorrow (La Détresse et l'enchantement) (1984)
- The Tortoiseshell and the Pekinese (L'Espagnole et le Pékinoise) (1987)
External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Order of Canada Citation
- Excerpt: Children of My Heart on CBC Words at Large
- Bank of Canada - Canadian Journey Series
- Gabrielle Roy on civilization.ca.
- Gabrielle Roy's entry in The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
- Gabrielle Roy: An English Canadians’ Favorite French Canadian
- Illustrer les textes pour enfants écrits par Gabrielle Roy in Cahiers Franco-Canadiens de l’Ouest Vol. 16, Nos 1-2, 2005, p. 75-116 http://www.ustboniface.mb.ca/cusb//cahiersfco/v17textes/v17duguay.pdf