The Town Below
Will be published approx. on 6. June 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-1-55488-803-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Town Below changed the face of Quebecois literature.
The Town Below takes place in St. Joseph Parish of Quebec City's Saint-Sauveur suburb. Saint-Sauveur is a parochial and provincial place where narrow piety and corruption can be found in every corner, and Denis and Lise, two adolescents in love, scandalize the town with their affair. Scheming politicians and clergymen and grasping social climbers mix with salt-of-the-earth citizens in a rough-and-tumble satiric assault on pre-Quiet Revolution Quebec mores and attitudes.
The Town Below won the Prix David and the Prix de la langue francaise. Lemelin was also awarded Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships. A bestseller in Quebec when it originally appeared, The Town Below has been called the "pioneer novel of working-class Quebec" and exploded, with great controversy, the smothering social and religious strictures prevalent among postwar Quebecois. The novel was first published in English by Reynal & Hitchcock in 1948.
The Town Below takes place in St. Joseph Parish of Quebec City's Saint-Sauveur suburb. Saint-Sauveur is a parochial and provincial place where narrow piety and corruption can be found in every corner, and Denis and Lise, two adolescents in love, scandalize the town with their affair. Scheming politicians and clergymen and grasping social climbers mix with salt-of-the-earth citizens in a rough-and-tumble satiric assault on pre-Quiet Revolution Quebec mores and attitudes.
The Town Below won the Prix David and the Prix de la langue francaise. Lemelin was also awarded Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships. A bestseller in Quebec when it originally appeared, The Town Below has been called the "pioneer novel of working-class Quebec" and exploded, with great controversy, the smothering social and religious strictures prevalent among postwar Quebecois. The novel was first published in English by Reynal & Hitchcock in 1948.
Reviews / Votes
The historical aspects of The Town Below, along with Lemelin's cast of characters, offers the new reader an enchanting way to learn about a Canada of long ago. -- Jennifer Hunter * Toronto Star *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
519 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-55488-803-0 (9781554888030)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Roger Lemelin
The Town Below
E-Book
03/2013
1st Edition
Dundurn Press
from
€18.69
Available for download
Persons
Roger Lemelin (1919-1992) was born in working-class Quebec City. He published eight novels and numerous short stories and essays and won several awards for his books. In addition to the awards he won for The Town Below, he also adapted his second novel, Les Plouffe, into the popular CBC-TV show The Plouffe Family, which ran from 1953 to 1959.
Michael Gnarowski compiled The Concise Bibliography of English Canadian Literature, and edited the Critical Views of Canadian Writers series for McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Gnarowski is professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Michael Gnarowski compiled The Concise Bibliography of English Canadian Literature, and edited the Critical Views of Canadian Writers series for McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Gnarowski is professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa.