Colin McDougall
Colin Malcolm McDougall was a Canadian author and academic born on July 13, 1917, in Montreal, Quebec. The son of a prominent lawyer, he had a distinguished education, graduating from McGill University in 1940. McDougall served as a major in the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry during World War II, where his experiences greatly influenced his literary work. After the war, he returned to McGill University, dedicating much of his career to academic administration and counseling, including roles as registrar and secretary general.
He began his writing career in the early 1950s, gaining recognition for short stories published in notable magazines. His most acclaimed work, the novel "Execution," published in 1958, is based on the real-life execution of a Canadian soldier during the war and explores themes of morality and the impact of military power. The novel received critical acclaim, winning the Governor General's Award and cementing its place as one of the essential Canadian war novels. Despite plans for a follow-up book, McDougall never completed another novel, passing away on June 3, 1984. His contributions to literature and education remain significant in Canadian cultural history.
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Colin McDougall
Author
- Born: July 13, 1917
- Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Died: June 3, 1984
- Place of death:
Biography
Colin Malcolm McDougall was born on July 13, 1917, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Mary Wynifred Rankin McDougall and Errol Malcolm McDougall, a prominent lawyer who eventually was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal of Quebec. McDougall attended Lower Canadian College from 1929 until 1936 and graduated with a B.A. from McGill University in 1940.
In 1941, McDougall married Diana Ekers, and the couple had a son and three daughters. He served with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry during World War II, achieving the rank of major. McDougall became a company commander, saw action in Italy, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His wartime experiences served as the basis for most of his fiction.
After the war, McDougall returned to Canada and to McGill University, where he remained for the rest of his professional career. He was a student counselor from 1946 to 1947 and later served as director of placement (1947-1957), registrar (1957- 1973), and secretary general (1973-1984). He also was the first president of the service for admission to colleges and universities (1966-1968) and was a member of the College Entrance Exam Board and the Committee on International Education.
McDougall began writing in the early 1950’s, publishing a few short stories in MacLeans magazine, This Week, and New Liberty. One of his stories, “The Firing Squad,” won first prize in MacLeans fiction contest and received the President’s Medal from the University of Western Ontario for Best Canadian Short Story. The story also served as inspiration for McDougall’s sole novel, Execution, published in 1958.
Written between 1952 and 1957, Execution was based loosely on McDougall’s military service in Italy and on the real-life execution of a Canadian soldier, Private Harold Pringle. Pringle was charged with desertion and murder on dubious evidence and killed by a firing squad in Italy on July 5, 1945, the only Canadian soldier to be executed in World War II. Execution combines both realistic depictions of combat with philosophical contemplation about good and evil and how the boundaries between the two are blurred in time of war. The novel also deals with the abuse of military power and with the emotional and psychic toll of battle. Considered one of the best Canadian novels about the war, and praised by such writers as Saul Bellow, Vera Brittain, and Hugh MacLennan, Execution won the Governor General’s Award and the Quebec Literary Prize in 1959. Along with MacLennan’s Barometer Rising (1941) and Timothy Findley’s The Wars (1977), Execution remains one of the most widely read and studied Canadian war novels of the twentieth century.
McDougall planned to publish a follow-up to Execution, but he was busy raising his young family and performing his administrative functions at McGill University and lacked the time to write another book. He never completed another novel before his death on June 3, 1984.