''A Season in the Life of Emmanuel'' () is a

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

novel by

Marie-Claire Blais Marie-Claire Blais (5 October 1939 – 30 November 2021) was a Canadian writer, novelist, poet, and playwright from the province of Quebec. In a career spanning seventy years, she wrote novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newspa ...

, published in 1965."Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel"
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 ...

. The novel centres on a large rural farm family in Quebec headed by domineering matriarch Antoinette, and depicts their lives around the time of the birth of Emmanuel, the family's sixteenth child. The novel focuses primarily on Emmanuel's teenage siblings Pomme, Héloïse, "Septième" (Fortuné-Mathias) and Jean-Le Maigre, who are all in some state of rebellion against the family order;"Nouveau Roman Made Easy"
. ''Canadian Literature'' (Volume 31), Winter 1967. in its themes of moral and sexual transgression, the novel is part of the '' anti-terroir'' tradition in Quebec literature. The novel was adapted for film by director Claude Weisz in 1972.

Awards

The novel won the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis () is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and .

and the Prix Jean-Hamelin in 1976. The novel was selected for the 2008 edition of ''

Le Combat des livres ''Le Combat des livres'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Ici Radio-Canada Première in Canada. A French edition of the ''Canada Reads'' competition, the program was launched in 2004. It aired annually from ...

'', in which it was defended by actor and director Serge Denoncourt.

References

1965 Canadian novels Canadian novels adapted into films Novels by Marie-Claire Blais New Canadian Library 1960s LGBTQ novels {{Canada-novel-stub