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Rochon, Esther

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

(1948-    ) Canadian author, born Esther Blackburn, who began publishing sf with "L'Initiateur et les étrangers" ["The Initiator and the Strangers"] for Marie-Françoise in 1964, for which she had tied with Michel Tremblay for first prize in the story section of the Jeunes Auteurs de Radio-Canada competition; she continued publishing stories frequently, and cofounded the journal imagine ... (see Canada) in 1979, serving as co-editor until 1981, publishing considerable sf during her tenure.

With her first novel, En Hommage aux araignées ["In Praise of Spiders"] (1974; rev as a juvenile vt L'Étranger sous la ville ["The Stranger under the City"] 1986), she began the Vrénalik sequence of tales set in an Alternate-History archipelago, a venue of the sort used by many Québécois writers to express the St Lawrence River's domination of the geography of Quebec, just as some English-speaking Canadian writers tend to set their tales on the shores of glaciated lakes. L'épuisement du soleil ["The Draining of the Sun"] (1985), part of which first appeared as Der Träumer in der Zitadelle ["The Dreamer in the Citadel"] (1977), most of the stories assembled in Le traversier ["The Ferry"] (coll 1987), L'espace du diamant ["The Space of the Diamond"] (1990), which posits a dreamlike Utopia, and most of the stories assembled in Le piège à souvenirs ["The Trap of Memories"] (coll 1991) are also set in this venue. The series as a whole is Equipoisal mainly between sf and fantasy, though some metafictional Transcendence motifs enrich the mix, as well as narrative portions that work as a Myth of Origin [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] for the complex Archipelago. The Chroniques Infernales sequence, beginning with Lame (1995), is fantasy.

Of her work of sf interest, Coquillage (1986; trans David Lobdell as The Shell 1990) is the only singleton; it too is set on an Island, where several human characters plunge into a profound sexual liaison (see Sex) with the eponymous Telepathic Monster, who may be an Alien. Like most Women SF Writers at work in Quebec today, Rochon often depicts characters who have to encounter and deal with the Other on their own territory and without going into outer space, which has stimulated Feminist and political readings of her work. In 1986 and 1987 she received the Grand Prix de la science-fiction et du fantastique québecois. [LP/JC]

Esther Blackburn Rochon

born Quebec City, Quebec: 27 June 1948

works

series

Vrénalik

  • En Hommage aux araignées ["In Praise of Spiders"] (Montreal, Quebec: Les Editions De l'Actuelle, 1974) [Vrénalik: binding unknown/]
    • L'Étranger sous la ville ["The Stranger under the City"] (Montreal, Quebec: Editions Paulines, 1986) [rev vt of the above: Vrénalik: hb/]
  • Der Träumer in der Zitadelle ["The Dreamer in the Citadel"] (Munich, Germany: Heyne Verlag, 1977) [trans by Otto Martin from French manuscript: Vrénalik: pb/]
    • L'épuisement du soleil ["The Draining of the Sun"] (Longueuil, Quebec: Le Préambule, 1985) [exp of the self-contained French MS of the above: Vrénalik: hb/]
      • L'archipel noir (Quebec City, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1998) [rev vt of the above: excluding Le rêveur dans la citadelle ["The Dreamer in the Citadel"] (see below): Vrénalik: pb/Guy England]
    • Le rêveur dans la citadelle ["The Dreamer in the Citadel"] (Quebec City, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1998) [comprising first independent French publication of the above, excluding material added to L'Épuisement du Soleil (see above), plus further material: Vrénalik: pb/Guy England]
  • Le traversier ["The Ferry"] (Montreal, Quebec: La Pleine Lune, 1987) [coll: mostly Vrénalik: hb/]
  • L'espace du diamant ["The Space of the Diamond"] (Montreal, Quebec: La Pleine Lune, 1990) [Vrénalik: pb/Louis Montpetit]
  • Le piège à souvenirs ["The Trap of Memories"] (Montreal, Quebec: La Pleine Lune, 1991) [coll: Vrénalik: hb/]

Chroniques Infernales

  • Lame (Montreal, Quebec: Quebec/Amérique, 1995) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/]
  • Aboli (Beauport, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1996) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/Sylvain Bell]
  • Ouverture ["Opening"] (Beauport, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1997) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/Jacques Lamontagne]
  • Secrets (Quebec City, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1998) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/Guy England]
  • Or (Quebec City, Quebec: Editions Alire, 1999) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/Jacques Lamontagne, Bernard Duchesne]
  • Sorbier (Quebec City, Quebec: Editions Alire, 2000) [Chroniques Infernales: pb/Bernard Duchesne]

individual titles

  • Coquillage (Montreal, Quebec: La Pleine Lune, 1986) [pb/Clodomir Suave]
    • The Shell (Toronto, Ontario: Oberon Press, 1990) [trans by David Lobdell of the above: hb/]

links

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