KAMOURASKA

by Anne Hebert ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 7, 1973

Anne Hebert is unknown here although she has written a considerable variety of books (poetry, plays, etc. including a Prix France-Canada) and now, with a reprise of memories, fancies, nightmares and fleshly desires, she tells what was actually a true story of a crime passionel in Quebec in the mid-19th century. Via Elisabeth d'Aulnieres, widow of Antoine Tassy and mother of his three children -- or was it only two? -- and wife of Jerome Rolland, dutiful wife, admirable, irreproachable wife -- eighteen years, eight -- oh mon Dieu -- children. As Jerome lies dying and exhausted, during the long vigil, her past passes before her eyes -- not his; her unhappiness with Antoine, the squire of Kamouraska, drinking, womanizing, brutalizing Antoine; her love affair with the local doctor, George Nelson; and the circumstances of Antoine's death -- the blood still flows. Elisabeth is an Emma Bovary, in much fuller voice but you can just faintly hear traces of mockery here, modernism there, in what is essentially the kind of story the late Joseph Shearing might have told -- a spellbinder with a high styled, attractively styled flair.

Pub Date: June 7, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION