A Season in the Life of Emmanuel

by Marie-Claire Blais

Book Overview

Following the life of newborn infant, Emmanuel, this great contemporary novel of Quebec exposes a painful history central to the new consciousness that emerged in the 1960s known as "the quiet revolution." The story of Emmanuel and his 15 brothers and sisters spotlights the grinding poverty under the mental regime of the Catholic Church at its least enlightened and most inescapable. This insightful narrative documents the hardships and cruelties of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550961187
• ISBN13: 9781550961188
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Exile Editions
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel

Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel marie-claire blais

"Né pour un petit pain" comme dit la chanson

Les saisons passent dans la vie d'une immense famille qui survit à la pauvreté. D'un côté, le printemps qui s'annonce avec la naissance d'Emmanuel, le seizième enfant, né d'une mère fantomatique et d’un père étroit d’esprit. Au premier matin, Grand-mère Antoinette le recueille et le protège sous son aile sévère de l'ignorance de son père. Elle qui, malgré les morts infantiles répétitives, se réconforte à l'idée d'envoyer les meilleurs de ses petits-enfants chez M. le curé ou Mme Lorgnette, l'institutrice de l’école, dans l'espoir de les faire accéder à un monde meilleur grâce aux leçons de latin ou de géographie. De l'autre côté, la pauvreté qui dégénère en animalité lorsque les abus sexuels et l'inceste occupent une bonne partie de la journée des enfants et des grands supposés les surveiller. La prostitution et la criminalité constituent le destin des plus chanceux qui ne meurt pas avant le printemps. Une famille née pour un petit pain... Une écriture sauvage et difficile à dompter. L’auteur rend bien l’atmosphère misérable dans laquelle baigne la trame du roman.

A bleak tale

This is one of the darkest tales I've ever read--a sort of "Angela's Ashes" times ten. It is chilling to think that, although this is fiction, people really lived this way, in such a dark world cut off from most all human emotions, in poverty so brutal even Charles Dickens could not have imagined it. Yet in the middle of all of this blossoms Jean Le Maigre, a sort of John Keats destined to be cut down by tuberculosis in his prime. A large portion of the book is Jean Le Maigre's biography, but it is also filled with other rich characters--tough Grand-Mère, mystical Héloïse, and delightfully wicked Le Septième.I have read this book in both its original French and Derek Coltman's translation. The translation is quite good in keeping the flavor of the original French, although at times there are words chosen in English which are stronger than they were in French.

A dark Place

This book takes a look at the stagnant life of a Quebec family. A family who, due to the deaths of so many children, no longer care about each other. In this book, the main character, Jean, is an imaginative little boy who is dying from scarlet fever(I believe). His genius is strongly ignored by his family and, not untill he dies, do any of them realize his intelligence and worth. Jean, however, is not the whole topic of this book. It also looks at the inability to escape from this horrible situation, whereas all the characters are trapped in this stagnant world.