Thunder and Light Read online

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The original French version of this book was written with support from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, and the English translation with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, both of whom receive my deepest thanks. Thanks are also due to Marisa Zavalloni for her constant support during the writing of the original, as well as to Art Kara, Bhante Wimala, and Bill T. Jones for their inspirational words and thoughts.

  — M.-C. B.

  MARIE-CLAIRE BLAIS is the internationally revered author of more than thirty books, many of which have been published around the world. In addition to the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, which she has won four times, Blais has been awarded the Gilles-Corbeil Prize, the Médicis Prize, the Molson Prize, and Guggenheim Fellowships. She divides her time between Quebec and Florida.

  NIGEL SPENCER has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation with three novels by Marie-Claire Blais: Thunder and Light, Augustino and the Choir of Destruction, and Mai at the Predators’ Ball, which was also a finalist for the QWF Cole Foundation Prize for Translation. He has translated numerous other works and films by and about Marie-Claire Blais, Poet Laureate Pauline Michel, Évelyne de la Chenelière, and others. He is also a film-subtitler, an editor, and an actor. He lives in Montreal.

  House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey. Anansi started as a small press with a mandate to publish Canadian writers, and quickly gained attention for publishing authors such as Margaret Atwood, Matt Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, and Erín Moure, as well as George Grant and Northrop Frye. French-Canadian works in translation have always been an important part of the list, and prominent Anansi authors in translation include Roch Carrier, Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hébert, and France Daigle. Today, the company specializes in finding and developing writers of literary fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction, including Katherena Vermette, Lisa Moore, Patrick deWitt, Tanya Talaga, Djamila Ibrahim, Kathleen Winter, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and in maintaining the culturally significant backlist that has accumulated in the decades since the house was founded.

  The A List

  The Outlander Gil Adamson

  The Circle Game Margaret Atwood

  Moving Targets Margaret Atwood

  Power Politics Margaret Atwood

  Second Words Margaret Atwood

  Survival Margaret Atwood

  These Festive Nights Marie-Claire Blais

  La Guerre Trilogy Roch Carrier

  The Hockey Sweater and Other Stories Roch Carrier

  Hard Core Logo Nick Craine

  Great Expectations Edited by Dede Crane and Lisa Moore

  Queen Rat Lynn Crosbie

  The Honeyman Festival Marian Engel

  The Bush Garden Northrop Frye

  Eleven Canadian Novelists Interviewed by Graeme Gibson

  Five Legs Graeme Gibson

  Death Goes Better With Coca Cola Dave Godfrey

  Technology and Empire George Grant

  Technology and Justice George Grant

  De Niro’s Game Rawi Hage

  Kamouraska Anne Hébert

  Ticknor Sheila Heti

  Waterloo Express Paulette Jiles

  No Pain Like This Body Harold Sonny Ladoo

  Red Diaper Baby James Laxer

  Civil Elegies Dennis Lee

  Mermaids and Ikons Gwendolyn MacEwen

  Ana Historic Daphne Marlatt

  Like This Leo McKay Jr.

  The Selected Short Fiction of Lisa Moore

  Furious Erín Moure

  Selected Poems Alden Nowlan

  Poems for All the Annettes Al Purdy

  Manual for Draft Age Immigrants to Canada Mark Satin

  Rochdale David Sharpe

  The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches Gaétan Soucy

  Stilt Jack John Thompson

  Made for Happiness Jean Vanier

  Basic Black with Pearls Helen Weinzweig

  Passing Ceremony Helen Weinzweig

  The Big Why Michael Winter

  This All Happened Michael Winter