Maria Chapdelaine (version 2)
The novel Maria Chapdelaine portrays life in rural Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century. Published first in French in 1913, it is a famous example of the genre known as "novels of the land" ("romans du terroir"). These stories sought to reinforce and preserve the cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage of French Canada — a heritage at risk because of French Canada's historical situation as a conquered enclave inside English North America.
Maria is a young woman whose family works the farm they have cleared from the harsh Quebec forest — "a land that has no pity." As young men seek her hand in marriage, she must clarify her own identity, struggling not only with the problem of selecting from among her suitors, but also with her relationship to the land and to her heritage.
The author Louis Hémon had immigrated from France just two years before writing this novel, and worked on a farm in the Lac Saint-Jean region where the story is set. Hémon died accidentally before seeing his novel in print. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)
Genre(s): Culture & Heritage Fiction, Published 1900 onward
Language: English
Section | Chapter | Reader | Time |
---|---|---|---|
Play 01 | Peribonka | Bruce Pirie |
00:29:41 |
Play 02 | Home in the Clearing | Bruce Pirie |
00:19:08 |
Play 03 | François Passes By | Bruce Pirie |
00:13:38 |
Play 04 | Wild Land | Bruce Pirie |
00:18:27 |
Play 05 | The Vows | Bruce Pirie |
00:30:20 |
Play 06 | The Stuff of Dreams | Bruce Pirie |
00:15:31 |
Play 07 | A Meager Reaping | Bruce Pirie |
00:05:05 |
Play 08 | Entrenched Against Winter | Bruce Pirie |
00:10:31 |
Play 09 | One Thousand Aves | Bruce Pirie |
00:20:45 |
Play 10 | Straying Tracks | Bruce Pirie |
00:23:03 |
Play 11 | The Interpreter of God | Bruce Pirie |
00:12:33 |
Play 12 | Love Bearing Gifts | Bruce Pirie |
00:29:09 |
Play 13 | Love Bearing Chains | Bruce Pirie |
00:16:01 |
Play 14 | Into the Deep Silence | Bruce Pirie |
00:37:51 |
Play 15 | That We Perish Not | Bruce Pirie |
00:36:05 |
Play 16 | Pledged to the Race | Bruce Pirie |
00:01:41 |