Nadine

by Matt Cohen

Spanning four decades from the 1940s to the present and set against the backdrops of Paris, Jerusalem, Cambridge, and Toronto, this novel focuses on a sensuous female astronomer's attempt to free herself from the past

Genres: Fiction, Canada

290 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Matt Cohen studied political economy at the University of Toronto, and taught political philosophy and religion at McMaster University in the late 1960s before publishing his first novel, Korsoniloff, in 1969.

His greatest popular success as a writer was his final novel, Elizabeth and After, which won the 1999 Governor General's Award for English-language Fiction only a few weeks before his death. He had been nominated twice previously, but had not won, in 1979 for The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone and in 1997 for Last Seen.

A founding member of the Writers' Union of Canada, he served on the executive board for many years and as president in 1986. During his presidency the Writer's Union was finally able to persuade the government of Canada to form a commission and establish a Public Lending Right program. He also served on the Toronto Arts Council as chair of the Literary Division and was able to obtain increased funding for writers. In recognition of this work he was awarded a Toronto Arts Award and the Harbourfront Prize.

Cohen died after a battle with lung cancer. A Canadian literary award, the Matt Cohen Prize - In Celebration of a Writing Life, is presented in Cohen's memory by the Writer's Trust of Canada.

He also published a number of children's books under the pseudonym Teddy Jam. Cohen's authorship of the Teddy Jam books was not revealed until after his death. The Fishing Summer was also nominated for a Governor General's Award for children's literature in 1997, making Cohen one of the few writers ever to be nominated for Governor General's Awards in two different categories in the same year.

A film adaptation of his 1990 novel Emotional Arithmetic has been produced by Triptych films starring Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne and Susan Sarandon. It was the closing Gala at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007.

Reviews

[Tom Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nadine is a novel that is not unlike Cohen's earlier novels. It is not set in Eastern Ontario and has a female protagonist but the theme of disaffection or estrangement from one's environment is further explored. Nadine is detached from the society around her She searches for something which she really does not know. Nadine's parents were killed in the Holocaust and she was sent to Canada from her home in Paris by an emotionally detached aunt. The novel follows the development of her life the events surrounding her birth in Paris in the era of the NAZI occupation through to the early 1980s - the time when the novel was published. Nadine's alienation due to her orphan status and as Jew in the context of the Antisemitism of western society form the basis for this novel.

The novel is mostly effective in exploring the personal psychological effects of these issues. There are passages of compelling reading. However, there are weak areas that involve the supporting scientific plot devices. It is not helpful that the depiction of science and scientific research. The development as Michael as media famous scientist does support Nadine’s estrangement as a professor of science. However, the poorly crafted scientific story distracts greatly from this. Michael would not become a noted scientist for the discovery of a comet. Numerous comets are discovered every year. In that era, they were discovered commonly by amateurs.

This novel is effective as a whole. I enjoyed reading it. Many sections were compelling reading and were real page turners. It has depth and it has interest.