Acknowledgements
With great thanks to Kelly Joseph of Anansi and
Gillian Watts, to my sons Olivier and Antoine,
and to Jocelyne.
— Nigel Spencer
About the Author
Photo by Jill Glessing
Marie-Claire Blais is the internationally revered author of more than twenty-five 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 Medicis Prize, the Molson Prize, and Guggenheim Fellowships. She divides her time between Quebec and Florida.
About the Translator
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, Evelyn de la Chenelière, and others. He is also a film-subtitler, editor, and actor now living in Montreal.
About the Publisher
House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi’s commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada’s pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”
Also by Marie-Claire Blais
Fiction
The Angel of Solitude
Anna’s World
David Sterne
Deaf to the City
The Fugitive
A Literary Affair
Mad Shadows
The Manuscripts of Pauline Archange
Nights in the Underground
A Season in the Life of Emmanuel
Tete Blanche
These Festive Nights
The Wolf
Thunder and Light
Augustino and the Choir of Destruction
Rebecca, Born in the Maelstrom
Mai at the Predators’ Ball
Nonfiction
American Notebooks: A Writer’s Journey
© Éditions du Boréal, Montréal, Canada, 2012
English translation copyright © 2014 Nigel G. Spencer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Distribution of this electronic edition via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal. Please do not participate in electronic piracy of copyrighted material; purchase only authorized electronic editions. We appreciate your support of the author’s rights.
First published as Le jeune homme sans avenir in 2012 by Les Éditions du Boréal
First published in English in 2014 by House of Anansi Press Inc.
This edition published in 2014 by
House of Anansi Press Inc.
110 Spadina Avenue, Suite 801
Toronto, ON, M5V 2K4
Tel. 416-363-4343 • Fax 416-363-1017
www.houseofanansi.com
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Blais, Marie-Claire, 1939–
[Jeune homme sans avenir. English]
Nothing for you here, young man / author: Marie-Claire Blais
; translator: Nigel Spencer.
Translation of: Le jeune homme sans avenir.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77089-357-3 (pbk.).—ISBN 978-1-77089-358-0 (html)
I. Spencer, Nigel, 1945–, translator II. Title. III. Title: Jeune
homme sans avenir. English.
PS8503.L33J4813 2014 C843’.54 C2013-907036-2 C2013-907037-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918887
Cover design: Marijke Friesen
We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the National Translation Program for Book Publishing for our translation activities.
Nothing for You Here, Young Man Page 6
