Novel
The Outlander
Le Survenant
Germaine Guèvremont · 1945
Synopsis
Chenal du Moine, near Sorel. One autumn evening, at suppertime, a stranger knocks at the Beauchemins' door and asks for food. He offers to work in exchange for board and lodging, and old Didace, a widower, keeps him for the winter. He refuses to give his name; he is called the Survenant, or Grand-dieu-des-routes. Tall, red-haired, hardworking, he becomes for Didace the son he would have wanted, since Amable, his own, is sickly and has no stamina for work. Angélina Desmarais, the neighbour, falls in love with him. He remains torn between the land and the call of the roads.
Context
The novel was published in Montreal, by Beauchemin, in 1945. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the reception was lukewarm in Quebec, and it was the Paris edition by Plon, the following year, that established it. A sequel appeared in 1947. Eric Sutton's English translation, in 1950, brought the two volumes together under two titles, The Outlander in New York and Monk's Reach in London; it received the Governor General's Award, which did not yet have a French-language category. The novel became a radio serial as early as 1952.
Who it is for
A novel of about two hundred and sixty pages, with dialogue full of regional words; it reads like a chronicle of life on a farm.
Prizes and reception
Prix Duvernay in 1945, Prix David and Prix Sully-Olivier de Serres in 1946; television series from 1954 to 1960, film by Érik Canuel in 2005.
Sources for this page 12
The pages consulted to check this page.