Antonine Maillet’s work was first brought to international attention with her novel Pélagie-la-Charette (1979), for which she was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt in Paris. This novel is based on the return from exile of a group of Acadians to their native homeland several years after their deportation to the American colonies in 1755. It was translated into English by Philip Stratford under the title Pélagie: The Return to a Homeland (1982).
In this historical novel, Maillet attempts to rewrite Acadian history from the point of view of comic popular culture. Until recent times, historians and writers had largely mythicized the great historical periods of Acadia, basing their views of Acadian history to a g…
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Citation: Bourque, Denis Joseph. "Pélagie-la-Charrette". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35726, accessed 22 November 2024.]