Charles Guérin: roman de moeurs canadiennes

by Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau

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392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1853

About the author

1820-1890

Reviews

[Louisa Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Balzackian novel written about 200 years ago and puts you right there, plonk in the middle Quebec city and in a village further along the shore. You learn what it was like to be in the middle of the 1832 cholera epidemic which killed 10% of the population. The streets full of carts carrying coffins to the cemetery, mass open graves for most, the collective funerals where all the crowded mourners must have quickly passed on the epidemic. He doesn't idealize his fellow French-Canadians (as Philippe Aubert de Gaspé did), nor does he totally caricature the English who kept them out of all the decent jobs. And there is an emotional account of what it's like to lose your land (and only inheritance) in one fell swoop. Especially powerful when you know Chauveau himself was ruined more than once (and this is a time when there was no bankruptcy protection, no welfare, no unemployment benefits), and thereby found out who his real friends were. He almost ironically glues a happy ending on the end knowing it'll fool no-one.