In 1966, R jean Ducharme, then a 24-year-old unknown, published L'Aval e des aval s, this debut novel that would go on to serve as a zeitgeist for several generations of French-Canadian readers. Over the last fifty years, it has become a cornerstone for a culture, taught in high schools and universities as the foundation of the modern Qu b cois literature. Astoundingly, an English-language edition of the book hasn't been in print since 1968,...