Kirjahaku

A member of the FLQ idles away his time in a Montreal psychiatric hospital by writing a quasi-autobiographical spy thriller set in 1960s Switzerland. The volatile hero of this flamboyant novel within a novel reunites with his long-lost lover and fellow revolutionary "K" only to embark on a mission (on K's request) to assassinate a wealthy RCMP informer known as H. de Heutz. Twice, he is handed a perfect opportunity to complete his mission and twice, Hamlet-like, he falters and fails. Like Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, Next Episode captures the mood of muddling desperation and hysteria experienced at the ground level of a terrorist operation. Hubert Aquin's passionate first novel galvanized a generation of Quebec youth when it first appeared in French in 1965. Canadian film actor Carl Marotte captures the urgency and breathtaking lyricism of this anguished intellectual tour de force, which originally aired on CBC Radio's "Between the Covers."

Text in English & French. This bilingual edition is the first English translation of Aquin's ground--breaking novella. It is also the first time it appears in French, outside of the multi-volume critical edition. In this novella the young Aquin turns away from ordinary narrative towards the signature qualities of his later writing. Alone in exotic Naples, an impassioned François anticipates the arrival of his girlfriend Hélène. Uncertainty and impatience warp his waiting into an obsessive melange of recollection and speculation. His interior monologue threads its way through a disorienting universe of a claustrophobic dilapidated hotel room, hostile incomprehension in the streets of a foreign city, and a train station where the anticipated rendezvous cannot occur. Unremitting psychological exploration drives the narrator towards an extreme personal apocalypse. Frank sexuality, grotesque imagery and an autobiographical context helped to keep this story from previously being published for decades. Joseph Jones' accompanying essay situates the novella with reference to other works in which psychic conditions generate a striking literary representation that appears to operate largely outside of any conscious tradition. Included also is an "Appreciation" by Marie-Claire Blais.