Jovette Marchessault () (February 9, 1938 – December 31, 2012)"Jovette Marchessault, écrivaine et artiste, est décédée à l'âge de 74 ans"
''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'', January 2, 2013. was a Canadian writer and artist from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, who worked in a variety of literary and artistic domains including

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. An important pioneer of

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

literature and art in Canada, W. H. New, ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'' (chapter "Gay and Lesbian Writing", pp. 418–22).

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, 2002. . many of her most noted works were inspired by other real-life women in literature and art, including

Violette Leduc Violette Leduc (7 April 1907 – 28 May 1972) was a French writer. Early life and education She was born in Arras, Pas de Calais, France, on 7 April 1907. She was the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl, Berthe Leduc, and André Debaralle, ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

and

Alice B. Toklas Alice Babette Toklas (April 30, 1877 – March 7, 1967) was an American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century, and the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein. Early life Alice B. Toklas was born in San F ...

Emily Carr Emily Carr (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist who was inspired by the monumental art and villages of the First Nations and the landscapes of British Columbia. She also was a vivid writer and chronicler of life in her sur ...

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

and

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian-born Mysticism, mystic and writer who emigrated to the United States where she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an internat ...

.Jovette Marchessault
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

Career

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 ...

, Marchessault worked in a textile factory in her youth before travelling extensively in the late 1950s on a journey of self-discovery that would inform much of her work. By 1970, she was regularly exhibiting artwork in

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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. She published her first novel, ''Le Crachat solaire'', in 1975; this would be the first volume in her ''Comme une enfant de la terre'' trilogy, which also included the novels ''La Mère des herbes'' (1981) and ''Des Cailloux blancs pour les forêts obscures'' (1987). As a playwright, she published numerous plays; her early works ''Les Vaches de nuit'', ''Les Faiseuses d'anges'' and ''Chronique lesbienne du moyen-âge québécois'' were also republished in 1980 in one volume as ''Triptyque lesbien''. Marchessault contributed as a journalist to publications such as ''

'', ''

Châtelaine ''Châtelaine'' is a French language, French-language magazine of women's lifestyles, published in Quebec by St. Joseph Communications. History and profile The magazine was first published in 1960 by Maclean-Hunter Publishing. It covers issues ...

'', ''La Vie en rose'', ''La Nouvelle barre du jour'', ''

Fireweed ''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family, Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed and in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. It is also known by the synonyms ''Chameri ...

'' and ''13 Moon''. She co-founded the publishing house Squawtach Press, and was a lecturer in the theater department at the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

Awards and honors

Marchessault's play ''La Terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc'' was a nominee for French-language Drama at the

1982 Governor General's Awards Each winner of the 1982 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. English French References

{{GovernorGeneralsAwards Governor General ...

, and her play ''Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr'' won the award at the

1990 Governor General's Awards The 1990 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were prizes awarded to authors in 1990. Each winner of the prize received $10000 and a specially bound edition of their book. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the ...

. She was inducted into the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec in 1993. A portrait of Marchessault, by artist Robert Laliberté, is held by The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives' National Portrait Collection, in honor of her role as a builder of LGBT culture and history in Canada.Inductee: Jovette Marchessault
The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives.

Works

Novels (The ''Comme une enfant de la terre'' trilogy)

References