Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983) was a prominent francophone author in Canada, celebrated for her significant contributions to French Canadian literature and social realism. Born in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, she faced financial hardships after her father's untimely death, which influenced her early education and career choices. Rather than attending university, Roy trained as a teacher and taught in rural Manitoba before pursuing her passion for writing and acting. Upon returning to Canada in 1939 after studying drama in Europe, she began freelancing, which led to the publication of her influential first novel, "Bonheur d'occasion" (1945), known for its realistic portrayal of working-class life in Montreal.
Her body of work includes novels, short stories, and children's literature, often reflecting the struggles and inner lives of ordinary individuals. Roy's literary achievements were recognized through various awards, including three Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Order of Canada. Her narratives often blend personal experiences with broader social themes, making her a pivotal figure in understanding the evolution of Canadian literature. Roy's legacy endures as one of Canada's most widely read authors, whose writing continues to resonate with readers today.
Gabrielle Roy
Canadian novelist, short-story writer, and journalist.
- Born: March 22, 1909
- Place of birth: Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
- Died: July 13, 1983
- Place of death: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Biography
Gabrielle Roy is one of the most widely read francophone authors in anglophone Canada. A principal figure in twentieth-century French Canadian literature, she is well known for her contribution to Canadian social realism and her probing psychological portraits.
Born March 22, 1909, in the French community of Saint-Boniface in the primarily anglophone province of Manitoba, Roy was the youngest of eleven children. The sudden death in 1927 of her father, Léon Roy, a colonization agent for the government, left her and her mother, Mélina, in a very difficult financial situation. Consequently, despite an award-winning high school academic record, Roy was not able to attend a university. Instead, she received teacher training at the Winnipeg Normal School from 1927 to 1929. She then taught in rural Manitoban communities before teaching in Saint-Boniface at the Académie Provencher boy’s school from 1930 to 1937. During this period, she pursued her interest in acting and joined the Cercle Molière theater troupe. Subsequently, she left her teaching position and traveled to Europe to study drama. In the meantime, while writing articles about Canada for newspapers in Paris and pieces on Europe for newspapers in Manitoba, she discovered that writing would be her vocation.
Returning to Canada in 1939, Roy settled in Montreal, where she continued to work as a freelance writer, producing both journalism and short stories for Canadian publications. The publication of her first novel, Bonheur d’occasion (1945; The Tin Flute, 1947), marked a momentous time in her career and in the evolution of the French Canadian novel. Considered the first French Canadian urban novel, it is set in the working-class neighborhood of St-Henri in Montreal at the beginning of World War II. The story portrays realistically the misery and poverty of the Lacasse family, struggling to survive amid industrialization and ensuing social change. For this groundbreaking novel, Roy received the Prix Fémina and the Lorne Pierce Medal of the Royal Society of Canada.
In 1947 Roy married Dr. Marcel Carbotte, and for the next two years the couple lived in France. In the early 1950s, she and her husband established a permanent residence in Quebec City. In 1954, Roy published Alexandre Chenevert, caissier (The Cashier, 1955), which reaffirmed her concern with the plight of the common person. In the novel, a simple bank employee struggles with his place in his family, his society, and the world at large. The aesthetics of social realism, as shown in Roy’s novels thus far, were followed in her more introspective writings by narrative techniques akin to the discovery of the character’s inner self. In La route d’Altamont (1966; The Road past Altamont, 1966), semiautobiographical details are interwoven with fiction to produce four stories that loosely form a whole. The protagonist, Christine, recounts her childhood experiences, her quest for knowledge, and her nascent sensitivity as a young woman. The year 1975 saw the publication of Un jardin au bout du monde (Garden in the Wind , 1977), composed of four stories largely inspired by the fictionalized experiences of immigrants to Western Canada as they discovered within the stark prairie beauty in the solitude of their new home.
In 1967 Roy was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, and in 1979 she received a Canada Council Children's Literature Prize for medal for Courte-queue (1979; Cliptail, 1979). Throughout her career she won three Governor General's Literary Awards: the first in 1947 for The Tin Flute, the second in 1957 for Street of Riches, and the third in 1977 for Ces enfants de ma vie (1977; Children of My Heart, 1979).
Roy died from a heart attack in Quebec City on July 13, 1983. A prolific, sensitive, and at times sentimental writer, Roy made a lasting contribution to Canadian literature and is one of Canada’s most widely read twentieth-century authors.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Bonheur d’occasion, 1945 (The Tin Flute, 1947)
La petite poule d’eau, 1950 (Where Nests the Water Hen, 1951)
Alexandre Chenevert, caissier, 1954 (The Cashier, 1955)
La montagne secrète, 1961 (The Hidden Mountain, 1962)
Short Fiction:
Rue Deschambault, 1955 (Street of Riches, 1957)
La route d’Altamont, 1966 (The Road past Altamont, 1966)
La rivière sans repos, 1970 (Windflower, 1970)
Cet été qui chantait, 1972 (Enchanted Summer, 1976)
Un jardin au bout du monde, 1975 (Garden in the Wind, 1977)
Ces enfants de ma vie, 1977 (Children of My Heart, 1979)
De quoi t’ennuies-tu, Éveline?, 1982
Nonfiction:
Fragiles lumières de la terre: Écrits divers, 1942–1970, 1978 (The Fragile Lights of Earth: Articles and Memories, 1942–1970, 1982)
La détresse et l’enchantement, 1984 (Enchantment and Sorrow: The Autobiography of Gabrielle Roy, 1987)
Ma chère petite soeur: Lettres à Bernadette, 1943–1970, 1988 (My Dearest Sister: Letters to Bernadette, 1943–1970, 1990)
Children’s/Young Adult Literature:
Ma vache Bossie, 1976 (My Cow Bossie, 1980)
Courte-queue, 1979 (Cliptail, 1979)
L’Espagnole et la Pékinoise, 1986 (The Tortoiseshell and the Pekinese, 1989)
Bibliography
Babby, Ellen Reisman. The Play of Language and Spectacle: A Structural Reading of Selected Texts by Gabrielle Roy. ECW Press, 1985. This work focuses principally on Windflower and The Cashier.
Calder, Allison. “Roy, Gabrielle.” Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, edited by William H. New, U of Toronto P, 2002, pp. 992–94. An introduction to Roy's life and major works.
Hesse, M. G. Gabrielle Roy. Twayne Publishers, 1984. Provides an overview of Roy’s life, an analysis of her major works, and a bibliography of primary and secondary works.
Marshall, Joyce. “Roy, Gabrielle.” The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, edited by William Toye, 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 1997, pp. 1023–24. Presents a survey of the life and major works of Roy.
Meadwell, Kenneth W. “Gabrielle Roy.” Magill’s Survey of World Literature, edited by Steven G. Kellman, rev. ed., Salem Press, 1999. Literary Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331MSW12989850000297&site=lrc-live. Accessed 14 May 2017. Includes biographical information, an analysis of the major characteristics of Roy’s work, commentary on The Tin Flute and Street of Riches, and a short bibliography of books about Roy.