Gérard Bessette

Gérard Bessette (February 25, 1920–February 21, 2005) was a French Canadian author and educator.

Bessette was born in Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois, Quebec and attended the Université de Montréal where he studied literature and already began to publish works of poetry.

One of his most noted works is "Le libraire" (1960), an existentialist tale of a book store employee in a small Quebec town in the 1950s. The book deals with one of Bessette's most common themes: the stifling culture of Quebec of that time.

Bessette's novel "Le cycle" (1971) was the winner of a Governor General's Award.

Bessette became a professor first at the Royal Military College of Canada and then at Queen's University. In 1980, he won the Prix David, Quebec's highest literary honour. He retired to Kingston, Ontario.

Bibliography

*"La bagarre" — 1958 (translated as "The Brawl" —1976)
*"Les Images en poésie canadienne-française" (1960)
*"Le libraire" — 1960 (translated as "Not for Every Eye" —1962)
*"Les pédagogue" — 1961
*"Poèmes temporels" — 1962
*"L'incubation" — 1965 (translated as "Incubation" —1967)
*"Les images en poésie canadienne-française" — 1967
*"Une littérature en ébullition" — 1968
*"De Québec à Saint-Boniface" — 1968 (editor)
*"Histoire de la littérature canadienne-française" — 1968 (edited with Lucien Geslin and Charles Parent)
*"Le cycle" — 1971
*"Trois romanciers québécois" — 1973
*"La commensale" — 1975
*"Les anthropoïdes" — 1977
*"Mes romans et moi" — 1979
*"Le semestre" — 1979
*"La garden-party de Christophine" — 1980
*"Les dires d'Omer Marin" — 1985

ee also

* List of Quebec authors