Carole Corbeil

Carole Corbeil (1952–2000) was a Canadian arts critic and novelist.[1] Born in Montreal to Québécois parents, her writing was often informed by the cultural displacement, and the subsequent sense of dual belonging, that she experienced when her parents divorced and her mother remarried to an anglophone man.[2]

Carole Corbeil
Born1952
Montreal, Quebec
Occupationwriter, arts critic
NationalityCanadian
Period1979-2000
Notable worksVoice-Over, In the Wings
Notable awardsToronto Book Award (1993)
SpouseLayne Coleman
ChildrenCharlotte Corbeil-Coleman

Corbeil was raised and educated exclusively in French in childhood, and transferred to an English school after her mother's remarriage.[3] She spent some time as a teenager studying in Wales under the International Baccalaureate program, before undertaking university studies at York University in Toronto.[3]

First known as an arts reporter for The Globe and Mail in the 1980s,[4] she published her debut novel Voice-Over in 1992.[1] The novel centred on a documentary filmmaker from Quebec from her childhood through to her adult relationship with an English Canadian poet;[5] although it included passages in both English and French, critics praised its code switching as "done in such a clever way that the French is understandable to a person with only the basic vocabulary."[3] Voice-Over was a shortlisted nominee for the Books in Canada First Novel Award,[6] and was a co-winner with David Donnell's China Blues of the Toronto Book Award,[7] in 1993.

In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly arts column for the Toronto Star.[8] She was also a contributor to This Magazine, Canadian Art and Saturday Night, and won two National Magazine Awards for her writing.[8]

She published her second novel, In the Wings, in 1997.[9] The novel centred on the relationship between Allan O'Brien and Alice Riverton, actors playing Hamlet and Gertrude in a stage production of Hamlet.[10] A stage adaptation of In the Wings by Nicky Guadagni was staged by Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille in 2002.[11]

Corbeil was married to actor Layne Coleman.[12] Their daughter, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, would later become an actor and playwright.[12]

Corbeil died in Toronto in 2000 of cancer.[8]

References
  1. John Levesque, "Voice-Over a smash success". Hamilton Spectator, May 9, 1992.
  2. Beverly Slopen, "Bridging two solitudes". Toronto Star, February 1, 1992.
  3. "Journalist scored a hit with first novel: Voice-over a best-seller". National Post, October 16, 2000.
  4. Lynne Van Luven, "Clever `bilingual' novel updates the two solitudes". Edmonton Journal, March 29, 1992.
  5. T. F. Rigelhof, "Novelist found her voice in Toronto; Carole Corbeil's book is already called a classic". Montreal Gazette, May 2, 1992.
  6. "Corbeil among five on first-novel list". Montreal Gazette, March 6, 1993.
  7. Michael Smith, "Word on the Street festival celebrates 4th successful year". Toronto Star, September 27, 1993.
  8. "Columnist, novelist Carole Corbeil dies of cancer". Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, October 9, 2000.
  9. Elizabeth Renzetti, "A former critic lays it on the line: After years of writing about others, Carole Corbeil now faces being written about herself". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 1997.
  10. Phillip Marchand, "Elsinore's family values". Toronto Star, September 20, 1997.
  11. Robert Cushman, "Actors are people too". National Post, November 13, 2002.
  12. "A very personal family drama". Toronto Star, October 4, 2008.
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