Prochain épisode

First edition
(publ. Le Cercle Du Livre De France, Ottawa, 1965)

Prochain épisode is 1965 debut novel by French author Hubert Aquin.

Plot summary

The narrator, like Aquin himself, turns his adventures into a spy thriller to while away the time he is forced to spend in the psychiatric ward of a Montreal prison, where he is awaiting a trial for an unspecified revolutionary crime. The novel was translated by Penny Williams in 1967, and later again by Sheila Fischman.

Perspective

• Narrated in first person by unnamed narrator

Significance

• Served as a response to suggestions of cultural fatigue among French Canadian artists

Recognition

Prochain épisode (in its English translation by Sheila Fischman, Next Episode) was selected for the 2003 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads competition, where it was championed by journalist Denise Bombardier. It was the winning title.