A 16th-century belle turned Robinson Crusoe, a female Don Quixote with an Inuit Sancho Panza — this is the heroine of the novel that won the 2003 Governor General’s Award. Elle is a lusty, subversive riff on the discovery of the New World, the moment of first contact. Based on what might be a true story, the novel chronicles the ordeals and adventures of a young French woman marooned on the desolate Isle of Demons during Jacques Cartier’s ill-fated third and last attempt to colonize Canada. In this new readers’ guide edition, Douglas Glover’s carnal whirlwind of myth and story, of beauty and hilarity brings the past violently and unexpectedly into the present. His well-known scatological realism, exuberant violence, and dark, unsettling humour give his unique version of history a thoroughly modern chill.
Elle
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“Lascivious, bizarre, entertaining . . . Glover has a wonderful facility for imagery, language, farce, and the grotesque.” — Quill & Quire (20121130)
“[Elle is a maginificent hail Mary of pure imagination . . . a ribald, raunchy wit with a talent for searing self-investigation . . . Glover’s prose throughout, while being consistent in voice, is also a rich blend of elegance and punch, raw affect and slippery allusion.” — Globe and Mail (20121130)
“[Elle is a maginificent hail Mary of pure imagination . . . a ribald, raunchy wit with a talent for searing self-investigation . . . Glover’s prose throughout, while being consistent in voice, is also a rich blend of elegance and punch, raw affect and slippery allusion.” — Globe and Mail (20121130)
From the Inside Flap
Imagine a 16th-century society belle turned Robinson Crusoe, a female Don Quixote with an Inuit Sancho Panza, and you’ll have an inkling of what’s in store in Douglas Glover’s outrageously Rabelaisian new novel. Elle is a lusty, subversive riff on the discovery of the New World, the moment of first contact. Based on a true story, Elle chronicles the ordeals and adventures of a young French woman marooned on the desolate Isle of Demons during Jacques Cartier’s ill-fated third and last attempt to colonize Canada. The novel brilliantly reinvents the beginnings of this country’s history: what Canada meant to the early European adventurers, what these Europeans meant to Canada’s original inhabitants, and the terrible failure of the two worlds to recognize each other as human. In a carnal whirlwind of myth and story, of death, lust and love, of beauty and hilarity, Glover brings the past violently and unexpectedly into the present. Mysterious, mystical, and thoroughly original, Elle charts the magical zone of delirium where races, genders, languages, and ideas converge — everything the history books leave out.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Carm
Format:Paperback
Elle chronicles the unbelievable story of a French woman's first contact with the New World during Cartier's third and last attempt to colonize Canada. She's marooned on the desolate "Isle de Demons" on the coast of Newfoundland where a heartwrenching yet wondous experience awaits her.
I haven't been this engrossed by a book in ages. It's raw and richly imaginative, yet manages to provide a historical picture of what it must have been like to live in Canada in the 1540's. At times hilarious, and other times breathtakingly beautiful, this is the kind of book you won't want to put down until it's finished, and when it's finished you might just be inclined to read it again.
I haven't been this engrossed by a book in ages. It's raw and richly imaginative, yet manages to provide a historical picture of what it must have been like to live in Canada in the 1540's. At times hilarious, and other times breathtakingly beautiful, this is the kind of book you won't want to put down until it's finished, and when it's finished you might just be inclined to read it again.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Douglas Glover's ELLE is a tale of a young woman who was abandoned on an island in the mouth of the St. Lawrence river in 1542. Thoroughly researched, this story is based on the true tale of Marguerite de la Rocque. Elle (her name is never given in the novel) is deposited by her uncle with her lover and nursemaid. The reason for this rather cruel treatment is that he has discovered her with her lover and disapproves, to the extent that he sentences her to an almost certain death. But Elle doesn't die. She survives the deaths of her lover and nursemaid. She survives the oncoming winter which bring ice, snow and bears. She survives a clash of cultures, and...but I won't say more so as not to spoil this wonderful novel for you.
If you like tall tales, mesmerizing writing, and a spunky heroine whose voice possesses a sweet wryness, then this book is for you. It won the Governor General's Award for Fiction, and it is easy to see why. Five stars.
If you like tall tales, mesmerizing writing, and a spunky heroine whose voice possesses a sweet wryness, then this book is for you. It won the Governor General's Award for Fiction, and it is easy to see why. Five stars.
Format:Paperback
I was very interested in reading Elle. It won Canada's Governor General's Award and had an interesting concept.
The heroine of the the story is a precocious young French woman voyaging to the New World in the 1500s. She's been sent to learn to temper her wild ways. She is ejected from the ship on the Isle of Devils which appears to be somewhere near Labrador (since there was Blanc Sablon reference and Blanc Sablon is in Labrador.) She has been ejected for her loose ways in ahving sex with a man who is part of the expedition.
She manages to survive the ordeal somewhat miraculously and becomes part of the country of Canada interacting with the natives.
This should have been interesting but I found the prose to be all over the place. The writer didn't seem to have a good idea as to where he was trying to go. I didn't find the lead very interesting. She liked sex and that seemed to be about all that was interesting about her.
The story told in the first person and as she is confused so is the story.
I wanted to like this but really strongly disliked it.
I don't recommend it.
The heroine of the the story is a precocious young French woman voyaging to the New World in the 1500s. She's been sent to learn to temper her wild ways. She is ejected from the ship on the Isle of Devils which appears to be somewhere near Labrador (since there was Blanc Sablon reference and Blanc Sablon is in Labrador.) She has been ejected for her loose ways in ahving sex with a man who is part of the expedition.
She manages to survive the ordeal somewhat miraculously and becomes part of the country of Canada interacting with the natives.
This should have been interesting but I found the prose to be all over the place. The writer didn't seem to have a good idea as to where he was trying to go. I didn't find the lead very interesting. She liked sex and that seemed to be about all that was interesting about her.
The story told in the first person and as she is confused so is the story.
I wanted to like this but really strongly disliked it.
I don't recommend it.
