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Next Episode

Name: Next Episode
Author: Hubert Aquin
ISBN: 9780771034718

by Hubert Aquin

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Overview

First published in 1965, Hubert Aquin's Next Episode is a disturbing and yet deeply moving novel of dissent and distress. As he awaits trial, a young separatist writes an espionage story in the psychiatric ward of the Montreal prison where he has been detained. Sheila Fischman's bold new translation captures the pulsating life of Aquin's complex exploration of the political realities of contemporary Quebec.

About the Author, Hubert Aquin

Hubert Aquin was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1929. After receiving his licentiate in philosophy from the University of Montreal, he spent three years at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and then returned to the University of Montreal where he studied for one year at the Institute of History. Aquin worked as a radio and television producer with the CBC&#146s public affairs division in Montreal and won many awards for his work as a director with the National Film Board. A fervent separatist, he was arrested in 1964 for illegal possession of a firearm and spent four months in a psychiatric hospital where he wrote his celebrated first novel Prochain &#233pisode/Next Episode. He went on to publish three more novels &#40including Trou de m&#233moire/ Blackout in 1965 and Neige noire/ Hamlet&#146s Twin in 1974&#41. He was the first Canadian writer to refuse the Governor General&#146s Award for fiction. In 1977, at 47 years of age, he shot himself in the head in the middle-class Montreal neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grace. He is remembered as a literary martyr in the fight for Quebec independence.