Jovette Marchessault
Canadian writer and artist
Jovette Marchessault
Born February 9, 1938Montreal , Quebec Died December 31, 2012 Occupation novelist, playwright, artist Period 1970s–2000s Notable works La Terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc; Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr
Jovette Marchessault (French: [ʒɔvɛt maʁʃeso] ) (February 9, 1938 – December 31, 2012)[1] was a Canadian writer and artist from Quebec , who worked in a variety of literary and artistic domains including novels , poetry , drama , painting and sculpture . An important pioneer of lesbian and feminist literature and art in Canada,[2] many of her most noted works were inspired by other real-life women in literature and art, including Violette Leduc , Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas , Emily Carr , Anaïs Nin and Helena Blavatsky .[3]
Career
Born in Montreal , 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 Montreal , Toronto , New York City , Paris and Brussels . 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 .[3]
Marchessault contributed as a journalist to publications such as Le Devoir , Châtelaine , La Vie en rose , La Nouvelle barre du jour , Fireweed 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 .[3]
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 , and her play Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr won the award at the 1990 Governor General's Awards .[3]
She was inducted into the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec in 1993.[3] 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.[4]
Works
Novels (The Comme une enfant de la terre trilogy)
Le Crachat solaire (1975)
La Mère des herbes (1981)
Des Cailloux blancs dans des forêts obscures (1987)
Plays
Alice & Gertrude, Natalie et Renée, et ce cher Ernest
Demande de travail sur les nébuleuses
Le Pérégrin chérubinique
La Saga des poules mouillées
La Terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc
Anaïs dans la queue de la comète
Le Lion de Bangor
Madame Blavatsky, spirite
Lazare de Miramichi
Le Repos des pluies
Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr
Les Faiseuses d'anges
References
1980s 1990s
Ann-Marie MacDonald , Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (1990)
Joan MacLeod , Amigo's Blue Guitar (1991)
John Mighton , Possible Worlds and A Short History of Night (1992)
Guillermo Verdecchia , Fronteras Americanas (1993)
Morris Panych , The Ends of the Earth (1994)
Jason Sherman , Three in the Back, Two in the Head (1995)
Colleen Wagner , The Monument (1996)
Ian Ross , fareWel (1997)
Djanet Sears , Harlem Duet (1998)
Michael Healey , The Drawer Boy (1999)
2000s
Timothy Findley , Elizabeth Rex (2000)
Kent Stetson , The Harps of God (2001)
Kevin Kerr , Unity (1918) (2002)
Vern Thiessen , Einstein's Gift (2003)
Morris Panych , Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (2004)
John Mighton , Half Life (2005)
Daniel MacIvor , I Still Love You (2006)
Colleen Murphy , The December Man (2007)
Catherine Banks , Bone Cage (2008)
Kevin Loring , Where the Blood Mixes (2009)
2010s
Robert Chafe , Afterimage (2010)
Erin Shields , If We Were Birds (2011)
Catherine Banks , It Is Solved by Walking (2012)
Nicolas Billon , Fault Lines: Three Plays (2013)
Jordan Tannahill , Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays (2014)
David Yee , carried away on the crest of a wave (2015)
Colleen Murphy , Pig Girl (2016)
Hiro Kanagawa , Indian Arm (2017)
Jordan Tannahill , Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom (2018)
Amanda Parris , Other Side of the Game (2019)
2020s
International National Other