 Jacques Poulin was born in 1937 in Saint Gédéon, Québec. After receiving an Arts degree from the Université Laval where he focused his studies on literature and psychology, he worked for several years as a commercial translator and later as a college guidance counsellor. It was only after the success of his second novel, Jimmy (1969), that he was able to devote himself competely to his writing. Poulin has written a total of eight novels, all of which except for two have been translated into English by Sheila Fischman.
Poulin's first three books, Mon Cheval pour un royaume (1967), Jimmy (1969), Le Coeur de la baleine bleue (1970) form a popular trilogy that was published together in English as The "Jimmy" Trilogy (1979). Of Poulin's next four novels, only Faites des beaux rêves (1974) has not been translated into English. Each of Poulin's subsequent novels -- Les Grandes marées (1978), Volkswagen Blues (1984), Le Vieux chagrin (1989) -- achieved great commercial and critical success in Québec, culminating in Poulin's winning of a Governor General's Award for Les Grandes marées and the Prix France-Amérique for Le Vieux chagrin. While the English translations of these books also received critical acclaim, Spring Tides (1986), Volkswagen Blues (1988), and Mr. Blue (1993) have yet to earn for Poulin in English Canada the tremendous popularity he has achieved in Québec. His eighth and most recent novel, La Tournée d'Automne was published in 1993 to excellent reviews from both critics and Jacques Poulin fans everywhere.
To say that Jacques Poulin is underrated by the English literary community in Canada is an understatement. It is perhaps more realistic to say that he is just one of a series of wonderful Québéc writers whose works have been completely overlooked by the English literary establishment in Canada. It is our hope at Northwest Passages that by featuring writers like Jacques Poulin (and by eventually selling French language books as well as English) we will be able to help change this truly "Canadian" tradition! We encourage you to read any of the books by Poulin that we have mentioned above. We guarantee that you will not be disappointed!
Selected Bibliography
Books by Jacques Poulin (in chronological order)
- Poulin, Jacques. Mon cheval pour un royaume. Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 1967.
- ---. Jimmy. Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 1969.
- ---. Le Coeur de la baleine bleue. Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 1970.
- ---. Faites de beaux rêves. Montréal: l'Actuelle, 1974.
- ---. Les Grandes marées. Montréal: Leméac, 1978.
- ---. The "Jimmy" Trilogy. trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1979.
- ---. Volkswagen Blues. Montréal: Éditions Québec/Amérique, 1984.
- ---. Spring Tides. trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1986.
- ---. Volkswagen Blues. trans. Sheila Fischman. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1988.
- ---. Le Vieux chagrin. Montréal: Leméac/Actes Sud, 1989.
- ---. Mr. Blue. trans. Sheila Fischman. Montréal: Véhicule Press, 1993.
- ---. La Tournée d'automne. Montréal: Leméac, 1993.
Articles about Jacques Poulin and his works
- Bistodeau, Linda. “Quelques aspects de la mimesis géographique dans Volkswagen Blues de Jacques Poulin.” Selected Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Foreign Language Conference. ed. Gregorio C. Martin. Pittsburgh: Dept. of Mod. Langs., Duquesne University. 54-59.
- Bonsignore, Giacomo. “Jacques Poulin: Une Conception de l'écriture.” Études Françaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 19-26.
- Deitz, Ritt. “Au bord de l'américanite: La Fonction du voyage dans Volkswagen Blues de Jacques Poulin.” Iris: Graduate Journal of French Critical Studies 5.2 (1991): 87-93.
- Demers, Jeanne. “Besoin de tendresse, over ou Jacques Poulin conteur.” Etudes Francaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 27-35.
- Harel, Simon. “La Tentation cosmopolite.” Voix et Images 14.2 (41) (Dec. 1989): 281-293.
- Hébert, Pierre. “Jacques Poulin: De la représentation de l'espace à l'espace de la représentation.” Etudes Françaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 37-53.
- Hodgson, Richard, and Ralph Sarkonak. “Deux hors la loi québécois: Jacques Godbout et Jacques Poulin.” Quebec Studies .8 (1989): 27-36.
- Jarque, Alexandra. “Sur les traces de la lectrice dans Le Vieux Chagrin de Jacques Poulin.” Quebec Studies .18 (Mar. 1994): 137-48.
- Lachance, Maurice. “Une (ou deux) voix dans l'orchestre.” Etudes Françaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 55-65.
- Lapointe, Jean Pierre. “L'Américanité du roman québécois contemporain: Altérite éxotique ou endotique?” Etudes Canadiennes/Canadian Studies .33 (1992): 289-97.
- ---. “Narcisse travesti: L'Altérité des sexes chez trois romanciers québécois contemporains.” Voix et Images 18.52 (14 1992): 11-25.
- ---. “Sur la piste américaine: Le Statut des références littéraires dans l'oeuvre de Jacques Poulin.” Voix et Images 15.1 (Sept. 1989): 15-27.
- Lapointe, Jean-Pierre, and Jean Levasseur. “Bibliographie de Jacques Poulin.” Voix et Images 15.1 (Sept. 1989): 58-64.
- Lapointe, Jean Pierre, and Yves Thomas. “Entretien avec Jacques Poulin.” Voix et Images 15.1 (43) (Sept. 1989): 8-14.
- Leahy, David. “Running in the Family, Volkswagen Blues and Heroine: Three Post/Colonial Post-Modernist Quests?” Kunapipi 14.3 (1992): 67-82.
- Leblanc, Julie. “Le Système pictural de Volkswagen Blues de Jacques Poulin.” Image et Récit. Ed. Jean-Michel Lacroix, Simone Vauthier, and Héliane Ventura. Paris: Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1993. 195-208.
- Levasseur, Jean. “Du manuscrit a l'édition princeps/l'histoire d'une grand marée chez Jacques Poulin: La Figure du patron.” Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 17.1 (1992): 52-61.
- L'Herault, Pierre. “Volkswagen Blues: Traverser les identités.” Voix et Images 15.1 (43) (Sept. 1989): 28-42.
- Lintvelt, Jaap. “Le Double thématique et narratif dans Le Vieux Chagrin de Jacques Poulin.” Dalhousie French Studies .23 (Sept. 1992): 87-96.
- Mailhot, Laurent. “Volkswagen Blues, de Jacques Poulin, et autres 'Histoires américaines' du Québec.” Oeuvres and Critiques 14.1 (1989): 19-28.
- Marcotte, Gilles. “Histoire de zouaves.” Etudes Françaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 7-17.
- Michaud, Ginette. “Récits postmodernes?” Etudes Françaises 21.3 (Dec. 1985): 67-88.
- Milot, Louise, and Fernand Roy. “Des Milles et une nuits au Vieux Chagrin.” Le roman québécois depuis 1960: méthodes et analyses. eds. Louise Milot, and Jaap Lintvelt. Québec: Les Presses de l'Université de Laval, 1992.
- Miraglia, Anne-Marie. “Le Récit de voyage en quête de l'Amérique.” Dalhousie French Studies .23 (Sept. 1992): 29-34.
- ---. “L'Ecriture de l'autre chez Jacques Poulin.” Dissertation Abstracts International 53.8 (Feb. 1993): 2820A.
- ---. “Lecture, écriture et intertextualité dans Volkswagen Blues.” Voix et Images .43 (1989): 51-57.
- ---. “Texts Engendering Tests: A Québécois Rewriting of American Novels.” Intertextuality in Literature and Film. eds. Elaine D. Cancalon, and Antoine Spacagna. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1994. 49-60.
- Navarro
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