Carole Corbeil (1952–2000) was a Canadian arts critic and novelist.John Levesque, "Voice-Over a smash success". ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation, ''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. ...

'', May 9, 1992. She was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

to Québécois parents. Her writing was often informed by the cultural displacement, and the subsequent sense of dual belonging, that she experienced when her parents divorced and her mother remarried to an anglophone man.

Biography

Corbeil was raised and educated exclusively in French in childhood, and later transferred to a private English school, Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School, after her mother's remarriage. She spent some time as a teenager studying in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

under the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

program, before undertaking university studies at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. First known as an arts reporter for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' in the 1980s, she published her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

''Voice-Over'' in 1992. The novel centred on a documentary filmmaker from Quebec from her childhood through to her adult relationship with an English Canadian poet; although it included passages in both English and French, critics praised its

code switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. These alternations are generally intended to i ...

as "done in such a clever way that the French is understandable to a person with only the basic vocabulary.""Journalist scored a hit with first novel: Voice-over a best-seller". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', October 16, 2000. ''Voice-Over'' was a shortlisted nominee for the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon Canada First Novel Award, formerly the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the p ...

and the

Trillium Book Award The Trillium Book Award ( or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency (Ontario), Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is overseen by ...

, and was a co-winner with David Donnell's ''China Blues'' of the Toronto Book Award, in 1993. In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly arts column for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''."Columnist, novelist Carole Corbeil dies of cancer". ''

Cornwall Standard-Freeholder The ''Cornwall Standard-Freeholder'' is a daily newspaper based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. It has been in circulation for many years, and continues to be the newspaper with the largest circulation inside the Montreal - Ottawa - Kingston trian ...

'', October 9, 2000. She was also a contributor to ''

This Magazine ''This Magazine'' is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. History and profile The magazine was launched "by a gang of school activists" in April 1966 as ''This Magazine Is About Schools'', a journal covering political issues ...

'', ''

Canadian Art Canadian art refers to the visual arts, visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of ...

'' and '' Saturday Night'', and won two

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for her writing. She published her second novel, ''In the Wings'', in 1997. The novel centred on the relationship between Allan O'Brien and Alice Riverton, actors playing Hamlet and Gertrude in a stage production of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''. A stage adaptation of ''In the Wings'' by

Nicky Guadagni Nicky Guadagni (born August 1, 1952) is a Canadian actress who has worked on stage, radio, film and television. Life and career Originally from Montreal, Nicky Guadagni majored in drama at Dawson College and went on to train at the Royal Academy ...

was staged by Toronto's

Theatre Passe Muraille Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on Ryerson Avenue in the Alexandra Park neighbourhood of Toronto. Brief history One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille ("theat ...

in 2002.Robert Cushman, "Actors are people too". ''

'', November 13, 2002. Corbeil was married to actor

Layne Coleman Layne Coleman is a Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director, most noted as a former artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille. Originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he first became prominent as a cofounder and artistic director o ...

."A very personal family drama"
''

'', October 4, 2008. Their daughter,

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and actress. Her 2008 play, ''Scratch'', was nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2009, was a prizewinner in the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competitio ...

, became an actor and playwright. Corbeil died in

in 2000 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbeil, Carole 1952 births 2000 deaths Canadian art critics Canadian women art critics 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Journalists from Montreal 20th-century Canadian women journalists 20th-century Canadian journalists 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian literary critics Canadian women literary critics Canadian theatre critics People educated at Atlantic College Canadian women non-fiction writers York University alumni Novelists from Montreal