Article

Monique Bosco

Published Online October 9, 2012

Last Edited January 20, 2014

Monique Bosco, author (born at Vienna, Austria 1927, died at Montréal, 17 May 2007). She completed her studies in France and immigrated to Canada in 1948, where she obtained a doctorate with a thesis titled L'Isolement dans le roman canadien-français (Isolation in the French Canadian Novel) (1953).

Monique Bosco, author (born at Vienna, Austria 1927, died at Montréal, 17 May 2007). She completed her studies in France and immigrated to Canada in 1948, where she obtained a doctorate with a thesis titled L'Isolement dans le roman canadien-français (Isolation in the French Canadian Novel) (1953). She worked as a journalist-reporter in Montréal (Radio-Canada International, 1949-1952), a publicist (1952-1959), a researcher (National Film Board, 1960-1962), a columnist (La Presse, 1961-1976; Le Devoir, 1962; Maclean's, 1963-1969), and she began teaching literature at the U de Montréal in 1962. At the same time, she continued to work as a poet (Jéricho, 1971; Miserere 77-90, 1991; Lamento 90-97, 1997; Confiteor, 1998), short story writer, (Boomerang, 1987; Clichés, 1988; Remémoration, 1991; Éphémères, 1993) and novelist (Un amour maladroit, 1961; Les infusoires, 1965; La femme de Loth, 1971, Governor general's award; New Medea, 1974).

Obsessed by themes of solitude and incommunication, Monique Bosco systematically presented, in works that combined prose and poetry, the "divided beings of the world" - according to the expression of essayist Paulette Collet - suffering from painful feelings of isolation, rejection, rebellion and guilt. However, the characters in her mature novels express hope and possible deliverance, reaching out towards virtual liberation (Charles Levy, 1977; Schabbat 70-77, 1978; Portrait de Zeus peint par Minerve, 1982; Sara Sage, 1986; Le jeu des sept familles, 1995).