Mavis Gallant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mavis Gallant
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| Born | Mavis Leslie de Trafford Young 11 August 1922 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | 18 February 2014 (aged 91) Paris, France |
| Notable works | From the Fifteenth District, The Pegnitz Junction, Home Truths |
| Notable awards | Order of Canada Governor General's Award for English-language fiction Prix Athanase-David |
| Spouse | John Gallant (m. 1942–1947) |
Mavis Gallant (born August 11, 1922 – died February 18, 2014) was a famous Canadian writer. She spent most of her life and career living in France. Mavis Gallant was best known for her amazing short stories. She also wrote novels, plays, and essays.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was the only child of Albert Stewart Roy de Trafford Young and Benedictine Wiseman. Her father was a furniture salesman and painter.
When Mavis was ten years old, her father passed away. Her mother remarried and moved to New York. Mavis was left with a guardian. She later described her childhood as difficult.
Mavis went to many different schools. She attended 17 public, private, and convent schools in the United States and Canada. She spent several years in New York City. This city later became the setting for many of her early stories.
In 1942, Mavis married John Gallant, a musician from Winnipeg. They divorced in 1947. Their marriage was short because her husband was serving overseas in the armed forces for much of that time.
Becoming a Writer
In her twenties, Mavis Gallant worked for the National Film Board for a short time. Then, from 1944 to 1950, she worked as a reporter for the Montreal Standard newspaper. While working there, she started publishing her first short stories. These appeared in the newspaper and in magazines like Preview and Northern Review.
In 1950, Mavis decided to become a full-time fiction writer. She moved to Europe, hoping to focus only on her writing. After a brief stay in Spain, she settled in Paris, France. She lived there for the rest of her life. Even though she lived in Paris, Mavis always kept her Canadian citizenship. She never became a French citizen.
Her first story published internationally was "Madeline's Birthday." It appeared in The New Yorker magazine on September 1, 1951. The New Yorker soon published more of her stories. These included "One Morning in June" and "The Picnic."
At first, Mavis didn't know these stories had been accepted. Her literary agent, Jacques Chambrun, kept her money and told her the magazine had said no. He also lied to the magazine about where she lived. Mavis found out she was published when she saw her name in the magazine at a library. She then contacted the magazine directly. She became good friends with New Yorker fiction editor William Maxwell.
Mavis Gallant published 116 stories in The New Yorker during her career. This put her in the same group as famous writers like John Cheever and John Updike. She is one of only a few Canadian authors whose works appeared regularly in the magazine.
Her Books and Stories
Mavis Gallant wrote two novels: Green Water, Green Sky (1959) and A Fairly Good Time (1970). She also wrote a play called What Is to Be Done? (1984).
She is most famous for her many collections of short stories. Some of these include:
- The Other Paris (1956)
- My Heart Is Broken (1964)
- The Pegnitz Junction (1973)
- From the Fifteenth District (1979)
- Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981)
- Overhead in a Balloon: Stories of Paris (1985)
She also wrote a non-fiction book, Paris Notebooks: Selected Essays and Reviews (1986). Many new collections of her stories were released later. These included The Selected Stories of Mavis Gallant (1996) and Paris Stories (2002).
Her "Linnet Muir" series of stories are very personal. They are based on parts of her own life. These stories appeared in several of her books. They were later collected in Home Truths.
For a long time, Canadian critics felt Mavis Gallant was not recognized enough in Canada. This was because she lived outside the country. Her books were hard to find in Canada until the late 1970s. That's when Macmillan of Canada started publishing her work.
Her book From the Fifteenth District was highly praised. However, it did not get nominated for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. To fix this, her editor, Douglas Gibson, put together Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories. This collection showed the Canadian themes in her work. Home Truths won the Governor General's Award in 1981.
Mavis Gallant rarely gave interviews. But in 2006, she took part in two TV documentaries. One was for Bravo! Canada called Paris Stories: The Writing of Mavis Gallant. The other was a French series called CONTACT, l'encyclopédie de la création.
Mavis Gallant was very clear about wanting her own space and privacy. She once said she arranged her life to be free to write. She loved writing. In her book Home Truths, she used a quote from Boris Pasternak: "Only personal independence matters."
Death
Mavis Gallant passed away on February 18, 2014, at the age of 91.
What Critics Said
Many literary experts have praised Mavis Gallant's writing. Grazia Merler said that Mavis Gallant's stories focus on how people feel and think. Her stories often feature people who feel lost or alone. They also explore marriages that are falling apart.
Janice Kulyk Keefer said that Gallant's writing is amazing. She uses language wonderfully and creates new ways to tell stories. Keefer also noted Gallant's sharp intelligence and wit.
Geoff Hancock called Mavis Gallant's fiction some of the best ever written by a Canadian. He said her writing is like "buried treasure" waiting to be discovered. Robert Fulford compared her best work to that of great writers like Henry James and Chekhov.
Exploring Fascism in Stories
Fascism is a topic that often appears in Mavis Gallant's stories. Fascism is a type of government where a single leader has total power. They often control people's lives and suppress opposition.
She once said her 1973 book The Pegnitz Junction was about "where fascism came from." She meant it showed the small ways fascism could appear in people. Another important story is "Speck's Idea" (1979). It shows an art dealer in France who seems to slowly accept fascist ideas.
Critic Andy Lamey believes the main character in "Speck's Idea" is indeed a fascist. But he's a different kind of fascist, not one who deeply believes in the ideas. Lamey explains that the story shows how some people might accept fascism for reasons like not caring or wanting to benefit themselves. It shows that fascism can attract people not just through strong beliefs, but also through opportunities.
Awards and Honors
Mavis Gallant received many important awards and honors:
- In 1981, she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. This is one of Canada's highest honors. She was promoted to Companion of the Order in 1993.
- From 1983-1984, she was a writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. This means she was a visiting writer who taught and worked with students.
- In 1989, she became an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- Queen's University gave her an honorary law degree in 1991.
- The Quebec Writers' Federation Awards named its annual non-fiction award in her honor.
- She was a judge for the Giller Prize in 1997.
- In 2000, Gallant won the Matt Cohen Prize.
- In 2002, she received the Rea Award for the Short Story.
- The O. Henry Prize Stories of 2003 were dedicated to her.
- In 2004, she received a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a PEN/Nabokov Award.
- On November 8, 2006, Mavis Gallant received the Prix Athanase-David. This is a major award from the government of Quebec. She was the first English-speaking author to receive this award in its 38-year history.
