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Francoeur Trilogy #1
The Family
Reena and Jim Francoeur and their seven sons live in a small French-Canadian parish in New England and experience frustrations and events that have a devastating impact on their efforts to stay together as a family
- GenresFiction
301 pages, Paperback
First published April 27, 1978
103 people want to read
About the author
David Plante
51 books27 followers The son of Albina Bisson and Aniclet Plante, he is of both French-Canadian and North American Indian descent.He is a graduate of Boston College and the Université catholique de Louvain. He has been published extensively including in The New Yorker and The Paris Review and various literary magazines. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Among his honours are: Henfield Fellow, University of East Anglia, 1975; British Arts Council Grant, 1977; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1983; American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award, 1983. He is an Ambassador for the LGBT Committee of the New York Public Library. His voluminous diary is kept in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library. His papers are kept in the library of The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a retired professor of creative writing at Columbia University. His novels examine the spiritual in a variety of contexts, but notably in the milieu of large, working-class, Catholic families of French Canadian background. His male characters range from openly gay to sexually ambiguous and questioning.
He has been a writer-in-residence at Gorki Institute of Literature (Moscow), the Université du Québec à Montréal, Adelphi University, King's College, the University of Cambridge, Tulsa University, and the University of East Anglia. Plante’s work, for which he has been nominated for the National Book Award, includes Difficult Women (1983), a memoir of his relationships with Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer and the widely-praised Francoeur Trilogy--The Family (1978), The Country (1980) and The Woods (1982). His most recent book is a memoir of Nikos Stangos, his partner of forty years, The Pure Lover (2009). The papers of his former partner, Nikos Stangos (1936-2004), are in The Princeton University Library, the Program in Hellenic Studies. Plante lives in London, Lucca Italy, and Athens Greece. He has dual citizenship, American and British.
Considered to be a writer's writer and having lived for so many years among the artistic elite, David's personal memories are seen by many as high cultural history.
He has been a writer-in-residence at Gorki Institute of Literature (Moscow), the Université du Québec à Montréal, Adelphi University, King's College, the University of Cambridge, Tulsa University, and the University of East Anglia. Plante’s work, for which he has been nominated for the National Book Award, includes Difficult Women (1983), a memoir of his relationships with Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer and the widely-praised Francoeur Trilogy--The Family (1978), The Country (1980) and The Woods (1982). His most recent book is a memoir of Nikos Stangos, his partner of forty years, The Pure Lover (2009). The papers of his former partner, Nikos Stangos (1936-2004), are in The Princeton University Library, the Program in Hellenic Studies. Plante lives in London, Lucca Italy, and Athens Greece. He has dual citizenship, American and British.
Considered to be a writer's writer and having lived for so many years among the artistic elite, David's personal memories are seen by many as high cultural history.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 24, 2019
Read this for the Maine Humanities Council program at the library entitled “Invisible New England.” Everyone seemed to think that there are more interesting, current and relative books for the series ( dealt with French Catholics in Rhode Island)...
April 9, 2013
Many years ago a writing professor recommended David Plante's book "The Family". He said, "Have you read Plante?" I shook my head no. He said, "Your writing reminds me of Plante; you should read him." I read the book. I was stunned. Not only because my professor was right (that I did write like Plante) but also (and more) that he would pay me that compliment.
Published in 1978, this book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1979. It is the story of the large Francoeur family (father, mother, and seven sons), French-Canadians living in Providence, Rhode Island. It takes place in the 1950s and focuses on Daniel, the second youngest son, in 8th grade in Part One of the book, then college-age in Part Two. (Plante, too, was the second youngest son of seven siblings, all brothers). Writers write what they know, and parts of The Family must be autobiography. This book is the first part of what is known as the Francoeur Trilogy: The Family (1978), The Country (1980), and The Woods (1982).
The story in The Family concerns relationships, and tension builds slowly as Plante shows family members interacting at various points in their lives: an older son returning home for a short stay from the military (after he is told to take some time off), another older son losing his small business, the father losing his job at a local factory, the lingering death of the father's mother, the older brothers going in together to purchase a lake house for their parents, the fallout when one son decides to marry a non-Catholic. There is little narrative "arc" here; modern readers may become bored by page 50 when nothing really "happens". The tension is everywhere within the family, though, and this is what drives the story.
The first 50 pages are a slow, purposeful study; the middle of the novel explores all the relationships within the family unit, father, mother, and seven sons; the last 50 pages are revelatory. The writing is subtle and usually lean; the tone is somber. It is sensual, evocative, spiritual writing that is a real pleasure to experience.
4.5/5 stars
Published in 1978, this book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1979. It is the story of the large Francoeur family (father, mother, and seven sons), French-Canadians living in Providence, Rhode Island. It takes place in the 1950s and focuses on Daniel, the second youngest son, in 8th grade in Part One of the book, then college-age in Part Two. (Plante, too, was the second youngest son of seven siblings, all brothers). Writers write what they know, and parts of The Family must be autobiography. This book is the first part of what is known as the Francoeur Trilogy: The Family (1978), The Country (1980), and The Woods (1982).
The story in The Family concerns relationships, and tension builds slowly as Plante shows family members interacting at various points in their lives: an older son returning home for a short stay from the military (after he is told to take some time off), another older son losing his small business, the father losing his job at a local factory, the lingering death of the father's mother, the older brothers going in together to purchase a lake house for their parents, the fallout when one son decides to marry a non-Catholic. There is little narrative "arc" here; modern readers may become bored by page 50 when nothing really "happens". The tension is everywhere within the family, though, and this is what drives the story.
The first 50 pages are a slow, purposeful study; the middle of the novel explores all the relationships within the family unit, father, mother, and seven sons; the last 50 pages are revelatory. The writing is subtle and usually lean; the tone is somber. It is sensual, evocative, spiritual writing that is a real pleasure to experience.
4.5/5 stars
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews