Gérald Leblanc
Encyclopedia
Gérald Leblanc was an Acadia
n poet notable for seeking his own Acadian roots and the current voices of Acadian culture. Leblanc was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick
. He studied at the Université de Moncton
and lived in Moncton, where he died in 2005. He also spent a good part of his life in New York City
, which he loved.
Deeply Acadian and North American, Gérald Leblanc tirelessly sought the roots of his Acadian identity. The quality and abundance of his poetic work guarantee him a place amongst the most important authors of modern Acadian poetry. He was also the author, along with Claude Beausoleil, of an anthology of Acadian poetry. He was the lyricist for the Acadian musical group 1755
and wrote many of the group's classic songs ("Le monde a bien changé", "Boire ma bouteille", Rue Dufferin", "Kouchibouguac"). He was an unabashed champion of "chiac", which is the slang spoken mainly in south eastern New Brunswick and mixes English and French words and syntax.
As a poet and speaker, he was invited to various countries: Canada
(Vancouver
, Winnipeg
, Toronto
, Montreal
, Halifax,etc.), the United States
(New York
and New Orleans), France
(Paris
, La Rochelle
, Caen
, Grenoble
, Lyon
, and Poitiers
), Belgium
(Brussels
, Namur
, Liège
), the Republic of Congo (Kinshasa
), Mexico
(Mexico City
), the Czech Republic
(Prague
), Slovakia
(Bratislava
), and Switzerland
(Delémont
).
) have been translated into English
, Spanish
, Italian
, Chinese
, Czech
and Slovak
.
title L'extrême frontière, l'oeuvre poétique de Gérald Leblanc) is a 2005 documentary film
by Canadian
director of Acadian origin Rodrigue Jean
. In this documentary, Rodrigue Jean pays tribute to his Acadian roots, focussing on the poetry of Gérald Leblanc.
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
n poet notable for seeking his own Acadian roots and the current voices of Acadian culture. Leblanc was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. He studied at the Université de Moncton
Université de Moncton
The Université de Moncton is a French language university located in Moncton, New Brunswick serving the Acadian community of Atlantic Canada...
and lived in Moncton, where he died in 2005. He also spent a good part of his life in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which he loved.
Deeply Acadian and North American, Gérald Leblanc tirelessly sought the roots of his Acadian identity. The quality and abundance of his poetic work guarantee him a place amongst the most important authors of modern Acadian poetry. He was also the author, along with Claude Beausoleil, of an anthology of Acadian poetry. He was the lyricist for the Acadian musical group 1755
1755 (band)
1755 is an Acadian band formed by Kenneth Saulnier, Pierre Robichaud, Roland Gauvin, Donald Boudreau and Ronald Dupuis. The band was active from 1975 to 1984, when it officially disbanded...
and wrote many of the group's classic songs ("Le monde a bien changé", "Boire ma bouteille", Rue Dufferin", "Kouchibouguac"). He was an unabashed champion of "chiac", which is the slang spoken mainly in south eastern New Brunswick and mixes English and French words and syntax.
As a poet and speaker, he was invited to various countries: Canada
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...
(Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, 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...
, Halifax,etc.), the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and New Orleans), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
, Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, and Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
), Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
, Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
), the Republic of Congo (Kinshasa
Kinshasa
Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....
), Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
(Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
), the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
(Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
), Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
(Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
), and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(Delémont
Delémont
Delémont is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura. The city has approximately 11,000 inhabitants as of 2007.-Geography:Delémont lies southwest of Basel, about halfway between Basel and Bienne...
).
Works
LeBlanc's texts (written in FrenchFrench 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...
) have been translated into 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...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
.
Poetry
- Poèmes New Yorkais, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 2006 (post mortum)
- Techgnose, poetry, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 2004
- Géomancie, Éditions l’Interligne, 2003
- Le plus clair du temps, poetry, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 2001
- Je n’en connais pas la fin, poetry, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 1999
- Moncton Mantra, novel, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 1997
- Méditations sur le désir, livre d’artiste in collaboration with Guy Duguay, 1996
- Éloge du chiac, poetry, Éditions Perce-Neige, 1995
- Complaintes du continent, poetry, Moncton/Trois-Rivières, Éditions Perce-Neige/Écrits des forges, 1993
- De la rue, la mémoire, la musique, poetry, Montréal, Lèvres urbaines no. 24, 1993
- Les matins habitables, poetry, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 1991
- L’extrême frontière, poetry, Moncton, Éditions d’Acadie, 1988
- Lieux transitoires, poetry, Moncton, Michel Henry Éditeur, 1986
- Précis d’intensité, poetry, in collaboration with Herménégilde Chiasson, Montréal, Lèvres urbaines no. 12, 1985
- Géographie de la nuit rouge, poetry, Moncton, Éditions d’Acadie, 1984
- Comme un otage du quotidien, poetry, Moncton, Éditions Perce-Neige, 1981
Novels
- Moncton Mantra, English translation by Jo-Anne Elder, Guernica, Toronto, 2001
- Amazon Angel, Original Ange amazone by Yolande Villemaire, 1982, English translation by Gérald Leblanc,1993
Theatre
- Et moi!, text for the Département d’art dramatique of the Université de Moncton, with three other Acadian authors: Gracia Couturier, France Daigle and Herménégilde Chiasson, 1999
- Les sentiers de l’espoir, text for the Théâtre l’Escaouette, 1983
- Sus la job avec Alyre, text for the actor Bernard LeBlanc, 1982
Radio
- L’été saison des retours, 30 minute text for the FM Network of Radio-Canada, 1989
- Pascal Poirier, one hour text for the FM Network of Radio-Canada, 1982
Publications
- Éloizes (Moncton)
- Pleins feux (Moncton)
- Le Journal (Moncton)
- Vallium (Moncton)
- Ven’d’est (Petit Rocher)
- Lèvres urbaines (Montréal)
- Le Devoir (Montréal)
- Estuaire (Montréal)
- Le Sabord (Trois-RivièresTrois-RivièresTrois-Rivières means three rivers in French and may refer to:in Canada*Trois-Rivières, the largest city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada*Circuit Trois-Rivières, a racetrack in Trois-Rivières, Quebec...
) - Liberté (Montréal)
- Ellipse (Sherbrooke)
- Liaison (OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
) - Parallélogramme (TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) - Intervention à haute voix (France)
- Cahier bleu (France)
- Jungle (France)
- Europe (France)
- Mensuel 25 (BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
) - Textual (MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
) - etc.
Literary Awards
- Literary Award from the City of Moncton, for L’extrême frontière, during the City Centennial Celebrations, 1990
- Pascal-Poirier Award, from the New Brunswick government for his complete works, 1993
- Terrasses St-Sulpice Award, from the Estuaire magazine, for Complaintes du continent, 1994
Documentary about Gérald Leblanc
Living on the Edge, the Poetic Works of Gérald Leblanc also known by its French languageFrench 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...
title L'extrême frontière, l'oeuvre poétique de Gérald Leblanc) is a 2005 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by 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...
director of Acadian origin Rodrigue Jean
Rodrigue Jean
Rodrigue Jean is an award-winning Canadian film director of Acadian origin. He studied biology, sociology and literature. He was a dancer and choreographer in the 1980s. He then studied theatre and directing in London and Tokyo....
. In this documentary, Rodrigue Jean pays tribute to his Acadian roots, focussing on the poetry of Gérald Leblanc.