Novel
Hail Galarneau!
Salut Galarneau !
Jacques Godbout · 1967
Synopsis
Île Perrot, in the sixties. François Galarneau runs a hot-dog stand by the roadside, Au roi du hot-dog, and dreams of installing it in an old bus and heading off to the United States. Marise, his mistress, buys him notebooks: in them he tells of his life, his two brothers, Arthur, who has turned charity into a business, and Jacques, who writes serials for Radio-Canada under a false name, and the world he looks at with a naive and mocking eye.
Context
The novel appeared in Paris, from Éditions du Seuil, in 1967, the year of the Montreal World's Fair, in the midst of the Quiet Revolution. The hero writes in the notebooks that Marise wanted him to have, and forges for himself a verb, vécrire, meaning to live and to write at once. The author said he had written it in joual, and the book gives voice to popular French, Quebec expressions and English words. Alan Brown's English translation appeared in 1970.
Who it is for
A short, funny novel in a mixed language; a few turns of phrase call for an ear, none stops the reading.
Prizes and reception
Governor General's Award for the year 1967; translated into English under the title Hail Galarneau!
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