Tale
Tales from the Uncertain Country
Contes du pays incertain
Jacques Ferron · 1962
Synopsis
Tales of very unequal length. In “Mélie et le bœuf”, a pampered calf ends up a lawyer. In “Une fâcheuse compagnie”, a young doctor called to a Gaspésie village in winter finds himself followed everywhere by pigs. In “La vache morte du canyon”, the ghost of a lonely cow in Alberta pines for Quebec.
Context
The collection appeared in Montreal in 1962 from the Éditions d'Orphée and was awarded the Governor General's Award for that year. Its author drew in it on his experience as a doctor in poor neighbourhoods. The tales were collected in 1968 with the Contes anglais and unpublished pieces; Betty Bednarski translated a selection into English in 1972, then an expanded version, of forty-one tales, in 2010.
Who it is for
Tales of three to thirty or so pages, in precise and mischievous language, to be taken one at a time.
Prizes and reception
Governor General's Award for 1962, in the category of French-language novels and short stories.
Sources for this page 9
The pages consulted to check this page.