Jean Charbonneau
Joseph Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, born in 1875 in Montreal, Canada, was a notable figure in Quebec's literary scene. Initially an actor in the late 1890s, he transitioned to academia, earning a law degree in 1903. Charbonneau co-founded the École Littéraire de Montréal in 1895, promoting a literary movement that favored art for art's sake over nationalist themes. Throughout his career, he served as a translator for the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from the 1930s until his retirement in 1951. While he began as a playwright, he became well-known as a poet and literary critic, publishing seven poetry collections, including *Les Blessures* and *L'Age de sang*, which reflect on themes of war and society. His work garnered critical acclaim, earning him the Prix David in 1924 and recognition from the French Academy in 1935. Despite facing challenges from the Catholic Church regarding the formality of his poetry, his contributions to literature were significant, and he was inducted into the prestigious Société Royal du Canada in the mid-1930s. Charbonneau passed away in 1960 in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, after struggling with paralysis for four years.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Jean Charbonneau
Poet
- Born: September 3, 1875
- Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Died: October 25, 1960
- Place of death: Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada
Biography
The son of a carpenter, Joseph Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born in 1875 in Montreal, Canada. He worked an actor for the Soirées de Famille for some time in the late 1890’s before earning a law degree from the University of Montreal in 1903. In 1895, he and Louvigny de Montigny founded the École Littéraire de Montréal (Montreal literary school), a literary movement comprising French Parnassian-inspired artists who eschewed the typically patriot Canadian verse of the day and who espoused the creation of art for art’s sake.
Charbonneau spent a long period of his career as a translator for the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from the 1930’s until his retirement in 1951. A playwright at first, Charbonneau found his place as a poet and literary critic of Quebec and published a total of seven poetry collections, including Les Blessures and Sur la borne pensive: L’Ecrin de Pandore. He received the Prix David in 1924 for L’Ombre dans le Mirror and was named laureat of the French Academy in 1935 for Des Influences françaises au Canada, an award attributed to the fact that he consulted the philosophies of Nietzsche and Schopenhaur.
The Catholic Church deemed Charbonneau’s rather formal poetry a threat to religious beliefs; as a result, he published many of his subsequent poems in the more tolerant atmosphere of France. In his second collection, L’Age de sang, he explores the merits of World War I and society’s hopes for the future in a dark, twisted assortment of poems. In the mid- 1930’s, he became a member of the prestigious Société Royal du Canada. Charbonneau died in 1960, in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada, following four years of crippling paralysis.