Background
Roger Lemelin was born on April 7, 1919, in Quebec, Canada. He was a son of Joseph Lemelin and Florida Lemelin, maiden name Dumontier. He was the first of ten sons.
Roger Lemelin was a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
Roger Lemelin was a member of Académie Goncourt.
Roger Lemelin, businessman, journalist, writer, author.
Roger Lemelin, businessman, journalist, writer, author.
Roger Lemelin, businessman, journalist, writer, author.
Roger Lemelin, businessman, journalist, writer, author.
Roger Lemelin was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1980.
Roger Lemelin was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1989.
In 1990, Roger Lemelin received the French Legion d'honneur in recognition of his contribution to French culture.
(The Town Below changed the face of Québécois literature. ...)
The Town Below changed the face of Québécois literature. The Town Below takes place in St. Joseph Parish of Quebec City's Saint-Sauveur suburb. Saint-Sauveur is a parochial and provincial place where narrow piety and corruption can be found in every corner, and Denis and Lise, two adolescents in love, scandalize the town with their affair. Scheming politicians and clergymen and grasping social climbers mix with salt-of-the-earth citizens in a rough-and-tumble satiric assault on pre-Quiet Revolution Quebec mores and attitudes.
https://www.amazon.com/Town-Below-Voyageur-Classics-Book-ebook/dp/B00APYSY6S/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Roger+Lemelin&qid=1602106434&s=books&sr=1-2
1948
Businessman journalist writer author
Roger Lemelin was born on April 7, 1919, in Quebec, Canada. He was a son of Joseph Lemelin and Florida Lemelin, maiden name Dumontier. He was the first of ten sons.
The economic depression of the 1930s victimized his family economically, so despite his intelligence, Roger Lemelin had to drop out of high school in 1934 at age fifteen to help support his family. In 1976, he earned an honorary doctorate in literature from Laurentian University.
Roger Lemelin was a journalist and a businessman with interests in advertising, food processing, and lumbering. In 1948-1952, he worked as a journalist for such magazines as Time, Life, and Fortune. In 1951, he began writing for television. In 1972, Lemelin became a president and publisher of LaPresse. He worked there until 1981.
Roger Lemelin's writing reflects his life and complements his satire. His first two novels portrayed the period when he dropped out of high school to support the family. Anger over a more personal setback, however, fueled his writing. Lemelin, who in the early 1940s wanted to win the Canadian downhill skiing championships, broke his ankle in an accident. Confined to bed and forced to surrender his dream, he first wrote to channel his frustrations.
An pied de la pente douce is arguably his venting of anger over the skiing accident. Translated as The Town Below, Lemelin's first novel involves the frustration of young love, economic disparity, and a sentimentalized version of twentieth-century Canadian youth. The novel contrasts nineteenth-century simplicity with twentieth-century urbanization. Critics generally praised Lemelin's debut novel for his honesty and for avoiding clichés. Several critics also praised Lemelin's raw talent for style and description. Iris Barry of the New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Report said Lemelin "draws richly and arrestingly upon real-life material observed with rare compassion and tinctured with youthful bitterness, and its author's name is emphatically one to note for the future."
Les Plouffe is considered Lemelin's masterpiece. Hailed as "one of Canada's great comic novels" by Allison Mitcham, Les Plouffe introduced Canada to the idiosyncrasies and laughable shortcomings of family life. Lemelin playfully introduces frailties and celebrates individual victories in making this family endearing. For example, the matriarch of the large family, Mme. Plouffe, a sixty-year-old robust housewife, absurdly compares her uninspiring life with that of legendary heroine Joan of Arc. In fact, every challenge, no matter how minute, overwhelms her. Both she and her husband, Théophile, intensely dislike the English, and much of their humorous political commentary and not-so-humorous conflicts evolve from their prejudices. Théophile dislikes the English so much he avidly roots for the Germans to defeat "les Anglais" during World War II. Lemelin leaves no family member unscathed as he plays with the peculiarities and insufficiencies of the Ploufife children, ranging from the youngest at nineteen to the oldest daughter who struggles as a middle-aged spinster.
Roger Lemelin wrote two more novels and a variety of short stories, essays, and news articles. He returned from virtual hibernation in 1982, reintroducing the Plouffe family with Le crime d'Ovide Plouffe. Though his comedy was still strong, his novel writing evolved little over twenty-plus years. Still, the public was pleased to welcome back the Plouffes. In 1981, Lemelin collaborated with Gilles Carle to produce a screenplay based on Les Plouffe, and the family also enjoyed a run as the basis for a series on radio and television.
(The Town Below changed the face of Québécois literature. ...)
1948Roger Lemelin's political shift over the years from liberal to conservative was evident. He often espoused his conservatism in magazines, newspapers, and journals. He favored federalism and tempered reformation politics.
Seemingly absurd qualities give Roger Lemelin's characters depth and likable animation and also allow them to serve in the author's relevant social and political commentary. He emphasized family life and old-fashioned value systems and social institutions. According to Allison Mitcham in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Lemelin's devotion to the vitality and singularity of French Canada, "his understanding of ordinary people, and his ability to portray them vividly paved the way for others and gave him an important place in Canadian letters."