Claude Jasmin
Claude Jasmin was a prominent Canadian writer known for his diverse body of work spanning novels, plays, short stories, and adaptations for radio, film, and television. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he often reflected the cultural and socio-political context of his surroundings in his writings. Jasmin was recognized for tackling complex and controversial themes, including terrorism, violence, and the intricacies of human relationships, which led to both acclaim and debate among readers. His notable works include "La Corde au cou," which explores the alienation felt by a mentally disturbed criminal, and "Ethel et le terroriste," which examines the mindset of a Quebec separatist group involved in terrorism.
Jasmin's innovative use of joual, a form of Quebec French, added authenticity to his characters and narratives, while his autobiographical novel "La petite patrie" delves into his working-class roots and was adapted into a successful television series. Throughout his career, he received several accolades, including the prestigious Prix Athanase-David in 2016. Jasmin's legacy as a writer is marked by his avant-garde approach and a willingness to confront difficult subjects, cementing his status as a significant figure in Canadian literature. He passed away on April 29, 2021, at the age of ninety-one.
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Subject Terms
Claude Jasmin
- Born: November 10, 1930
- Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Died: April 29, 2021
- Place of death: Saint-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
Biography
Claude Jasmin is not an easy writer to categorize. His prolific literary career produced a myriad of works in a variety of genres: novels; plays; short stories; radio, film and television adaptations; and numerous nonfiction articles. He was also a controversial writer, willing to deal with complex and disquieting topics such as terrorism, mass murderers, homosexuality, and the destructive nature of love, often incorporating violence and polemical issues in the content of his works.
Jasmin was born in Montreal, Quebec, an area of Canada that figured greatly in his novels. The son of Edouard and Germaine Jasmin, he attended the College Andre Grasset but left to work as a ceramist (his father’s vocation) and art instructor. In 1956, he was hired by Radio-Canada Television as a designer, a position he held for twenty years. In 1961, he also began a career as art critic for La Presse, writing articles for that newspaper and the Journal de Montreal. In 1961, Jasmin also interrupted his novel writing to pen television scripts, continuing until 1966.
His novel La Corde au cou (1960) received the Prix Cercle du Livre de France award. The novel deals with alienation in the person of a mentally deranged criminal who murders in order to find relief from a perceived estrangement from his cultural and economic milieu. The novel was considered by many as a statement on the current political state of Quebec and became a scandalous success. Et puis tout est silence (1965; The Rest Is Silence, 1981) also dealt with homicide, recounting the story of a writer who is murdered on stage. Delivrez-nous du mal (1961) models its pair of gay protagonists on the French poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud. Jasmin is most famous for Ethel et le terroriste (1964; Ethel and the Terrorist, 1965), which received the Prix-France Quebec. This novel tellingly depicts the terrorist activity of a Quebec separatist group, describing the group’s mentality, tactics, and anti-Semitism.
Always avant-garde in both content and style, Jasmin was also recognized for his use of joual, the slang and street form of Quebec French traditionally spoken by the working-class citizens of Montreal. His collection of ten short stories, Les Coeurs empaillés (1967), focuses on the disastrous effects of love on the damaged human spirit. Likewise, his autobiographical novel La petite patrie (1972) explores the working-class neighborhood in which he grew up in 1940s Montreal. That book was turned into a popular television series that aired in the mid-1970s. Jasmin’s experimentation with style, his ever-controversial subject matter, and his massive output made him one of the most read Canadian writers. The use of extreme situations and violence in his stories provided an underpinning matrix for social and political themes that critique the rich, strip away or mock intellectual pretension, and seek to reveal the self-serving ends of society and its organizations. Jasmin was awarded the Prix Athanase-David in 2016 by the Quebec government; it is the highest literary prize awarded by the Canadian government.
Jasmin died on April 29, 2021. He was ninety-one years old.
Bibliography
Champagne, Guy. "Claude Jasmin." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 30 Apr. 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/claude-jasmin. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.
Faguy, Steve. "In Memoriam: Notable Quebecers Who Died in 2021." Montreal Gazette, 3 Jan. 2022, montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/in-memoriam-quebecers-who-died-in-2021. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.
"Quebec Writer Claude Jasmin Has Died at Age 91." CTV News, 29 Apr. 2021, montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-writer-claude-jasmin-has-died-at-age-91-1.5407784. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.