France Théoret (born 1942) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

feminist, author, poet, and teacher.

Biography

France Théoret was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

on October 17, 1942. Although she grew up in a house without many books, she discovered she loved to write in school and through writing letters. She earned her

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

at l'École normale Cardinal-Léger in 1965. She attended the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

in the 1960s, earning her bachelor's degree in 1968. From 1967 to 1969 she worked on the editorial board of ''La Barre du jour'', a student-run

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

literary magazine. From 1972 to 1974, she studied

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

and

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

at the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

in Paris. In 1977 she earned a

Master of Letters The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

from the Université de Montréal, and in 1982 a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in French studies from the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

. From 1968 to 1987, Théoret taught literature at Cégep Ahuntsic. In 1976, she co-founded a feminist newspaper titled ''Les Têtes de pioche.'' In 1979, she co-founded ''Spirale'', a cultural journal which she directed from 1981 to 1984. She published her first independent piece, ''Bloody Mary'', with Les Herbes rouges in 1977. She published three more over the next three years: ''Une voix pour Odile'', ''Vertiges,'' and ''Nécessairement putain'', and the four works went on to become widely studied in feminist studies. Les Herbes rouges also published her first novel, ''Nous parlerons comme on écrit'', in 1982. Théoret was awarded the

Prix Athanase-David The Prix Athanase-David is a literary award presented annually by the government of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (w ...

in 2012 for her work.

Works

Poetry

* ''Bloody Mary'', 1977 * ''Vertiges'', 1979 * ''Nécessairement putain'', 1980 * ''Intérieurs'', 1984 * ''Étrangeté, l'étreinte'', 1992 * ''La Fiction de l'ange'', 1992 * ''Une mouche au fond de l'œil'', 1998 * ''La Nuit de la muette'', 2010 * ''L'Été sans erreur'', 2014 * ''Cruauté du jeu'', 2017

Fiction

* ''Une voix pour Odile'', 1978 * ''Nous parlerons comme on écrit'', 1982 * ''L'Homme qui peignait Staline'', 1989 * ''Trois femmes'' dans ''Nouvelles de Montréal'', 1992 * ''Laurence'', 1996 * ''Huis clos entre jeunes filles'',2000 * ''Les apparatchiks vont à la mer'', 2004 * ''Une belle éducation'', 2006 * ''La Femme du stalinien'', 2010 * ''Hôtel des quatre chemins'', 2011 * ''La Zone grise'', 2013 * ''Va et nous venge'', 2015 * ''Les Querelleurs'', 2018

Theatre

* ''L'Échantillon'', 1976 * ''Transit'', 1984

Essays

* ''Entre raison et déraison'', 1987 * ''Journal pour mémoire'', 1993 * ''La Bosnie nous regarde - essais et témoignages'', 1995 * ''Manifeste d'écrivaines pour le 21^e siècle'', 1999 * ''Écrits au noir'', 2009

Autres publications

* ''Folie, Mystique et Poésie'', 1988 * ''Enfances et Jeunesses'', 1988 * ''Les Grands Poèmes de la poésie québécoise'', 1998 * ''L'Écriture, c'est les cris'', 2014 (with

Louky Bersianik Louky Bersianik (14 November 1930 – 3 December 2011) was the pen name of Lucile Durand, a French-Canadian novelist. She studied French literature at the Université de Montréal, the Sorbonne, and the Centre d'études de radio et de télévisi ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theoret, France 1942 births Living people 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian educators Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Canadian novelists in French Canadian poets in French Canadian women essayists Canadian feminist writers Prix Athanase-David winners Université de Montréal alumni Université de Sherbrooke alumni Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian essayists 21st-century Canadian essayists Canadian non-fiction writers in French French Quebecers