Carole Corbeil (1952 – 2000) was a Canadian arts critic and novelist.John Levesque, "Voice-Over a smash success". ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

'', May 9, 1992. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

to Québécois parents, her writing was often informed by the cultural displacement, and the subsequent sense of dual belonging, that she experienced when her parents divorced and her mother remarried to an anglophone man.

Biography

Corbeil was raised and educated exclusively in French in childhood, and later transferred to a private English school,

Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School (ECS) is an independent school for girls that is located in Westmount, Quebec. It is situated near other schools, including Selwyn House School and The Study. The school teaches students from Kindergarten u ...

, after her mother's remarriage. She spent some time as a teenager studying in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

under the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

program, before undertaking university studies at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. First known as an arts reporter for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' in the 1980s, she published her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

''Voice-Over'' in 1992. The novel centred on a documentary filmmaker from Quebec from her childhood through to her adult relationship with an English Canadian poet; although it included passages in both English and French, critics praised its

code switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualism ...

as "done in such a clever way that the French is understandable to a person with only the basic vocabulary.""Journalist scored a hit with first novel: Voice-over a best-seller". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', October 16, 2000. ''Voice-Over'' was a shortlisted nominee for the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident o ...

and the Trillium Book Award, and was a co-winner with David Donnell's ''China Blues'' of the

Toronto Book Award The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city ...

, in 1993. In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly arts column for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

''."Columnist, novelist Carole Corbeil dies of cancer". '' Cornwall Standard-Freeholder'', October 9, 2000. She was also a contributor to ''

This Magazine ''This Magazine'' is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. History and profile The magazine was launched "by a gang of school activists" in April 1966 as ''This Magazine Is About Schools'', a journal covering political issues ...

'', ''

Canadian Art Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of hab ...

'' and '' Saturday Night'', and won two

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

for her writing. She published her second novel, ''In the Wings'', in 1997. The novel centred on the relationship between Allan O'Brien and Alice Riverton, actors playing Hamlet and Gertrude in a stage production of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. A stage adaptation of ''In the Wings'' by

Nicky Guadagni Nicky Guadagni (born August 1, 1952) is a Canadian actress who has worked on stage, radio, film and television. Life and career Originally from Montreal, Nicky Guadagni majored in drama at Dawson College and went on to train at the Royal Academ ...

was staged by Toronto's

Theatre Passe Muraille Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Brief history One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille ("theatre beyond walls") was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Gar ...

in 2002.Robert Cushman, "Actors are people too". ''

'', November 13, 2002. Corbeil was married to actor

Layne Coleman Layne Coleman is a Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director, most noted as a former artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille. Originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he first became prominent as a cofounder and artistic director ...

."A very personal family drama"
''

'', October 4, 2008. Their daughter,

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and actress. Her 2008 play, ''Scratch'', was nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2009, was a prizewinner in the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competitio ...

, would later become an actor and playwright. Corbeil died in

in 2000 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbeil, Carole 1952 births 2000 deaths Canadian art critics 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Journalists from Montreal Writers from Montreal French Quebecers Canadian women journalists 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian literary critics Women literary critics Canadian theatre critics People educated at Atlantic College Canadian women non-fiction writers York University alumni