Gabrielle Roy
Seeking Reconciliation

Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, on March 22, 1909, Gabrielle Roy trained as a teacher at the Winnipeg Normal School. Her Manitoba teaching experiences between 1929 to 1937 left her with poignant memories to which she would later give a literary form in La Petite poule d'eau, 1950 (translated as Where Nests the Water Hen), Rue Deschambault,1955 (translated as Streets of Riches), Cet été qui chantait, 1972 (translated as Enchanted Summer), Ces Enfants de ma vie, 1977 (translated as Children of My Heart). With much emotion, she recalled these memories in her 1984 autobiography, La Détresse et l'enchantement (translated as Enchantment and Sorrow in 1987).

Feeling somewhat out of place in her milieu, Gabrielle Roy sought new horizons. Europe seemed particularly appealing to her. Although she had published a few articles and short stories – in English – and was inclined to develop her talent as a writer, she was also attracted to drama. It is this field that she first challenged. In September 1937, in spite of her mother's disapproval, the former schoolteacher embarked for England, studied acting for a few months at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, then crossed the Channel to discover France. Unfortunately, the political situation was rapidly becoming gloomy. She therefore decided, in 1939, to return to Canada and settled in Montréal.

While in Europe, Gabrielle Roy had worked occasionally as a freelance journalist; back in Canada, she thought it best to continue in the same vein, at least for the moment. It is not as a journalist, however, but as a novelist that she made her dazzling entry onto the Canadian literary scene. She established her stature as a leading Canadian writer when she received the prestigious Prix Fémina in 1947 for Bonheur d'occasion 1945, (translated as The Tin Flute in 1947). Largely acclaimed by the critics, that novel, which remains Gabrielle Roy’s best-known work, was selected by the Literary Guild of New York as its May selection. Translated into several languages, it became a bestseller. In 1946, she was awarded a medal by L’Académie canadienne-française. In 1947 she received the Governor General’s Award and, that same year, she became the first woman to be named fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was honoured the following year with the Lorne Pierce Medal.

It has been correctly established that Bonheur d'occasion (1945) – along with Roger Lemelin's Au pied de la pente douce (1944) – inaugurated the modern period in the history of the Québec novel. Breaking with regionalism and the tradition of the “roman de la terre,” dear to those afraid of social changes, Gabrielle Roy sets her novel, which takes place during World War II, in Saint-Henri, a poverty-stricken working-class area located at the bottom of Westmount in Montreal. Adopting a realistic approach, she brings to light, through the excruciating story of the Lacasse family and some of their neighbours, the social inequity that had reduced these people to humiliated victims. Generally uneducated, they are left to themselves, to their dreams and illusions – if they are still able to have any. Ironically, war offers them their best hope to improve their lot.

Showing sincere compassion for the suffering of her characters, most notably of her female characters, Gabrielle Roy expressed her bittersweet vision of the tragedy of life in all her works. She continued to take a stand in favour of the underprivileged, reserving a place of choice in her short stories for immigrants of various origins and minority people having difficulty adapting themselves to the dominant culture.

With her second book, La Petite poule d'eau, a collection of short stories set on a remote island in northern Manitoba, Gabrielle Roy introduced what would become a feature of her early works, with the exception of La Montagne secrète, 1961. From one book to the other, she alternated between two poles, between novels and short stories, between Québec and Manitoba, between the alienating conditions of crowded cities and the idyllic nature of the vast Prairie, between the bitter present and the joyful past, the painful experiences of adults and the innocence of children; in short, to paraphrase the title of her posthumous autobiography, she kept alternating between the sorrow and the enchantment. In quest of harmony between man and his surroundings, she continued to deplore the conflict of cultures, to question the notion of progress, and to expose the sometimes difficult rapport between the individual and society.

Gabrielle Roy received many prizes and awards for her works besides those already mentioned. These include the Prix Duvernay, 1956, the Governor General's Award for Streets of Riches, 1955, and the Canada Council Arts Award, 1968. She was made Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967, the same year the Order was inaugurated. In 1971, she was honoured with the Prix David and, in 1977, received her third Governor General's Award for Ces Enfants de ma vie. In 1978, the Molson Prize paid special tribute to her talent and her huge contribution to Canadian literature.

Gabrielle Roy, about whom many articles, books, and theses have been written, including the monumental biography published by François Ricard in 1966, died on July 13, 1983.

Jacques Cotnam