Antonine Maillet (Author), Wayne Grady (Translator)
On the Eighth Day
Published: April 28, 2006
Fiction / Novels
Paperback: 9780864924544 $19.99
In On the Eighth Day, Antonine Maillet imagines a solution to the world's problems: a wider and more exuberant world, with its right more left and its left more right, created on "the day when everything is dared and anything is possible." She spins a tale of two brothers — a giant carved from an oak tree and a scamp shaped out of bread dough — born one remarkable night when magic made wishes come true. Thrilled to have a son to call their own, Mr. Goodman and Mrs. Goodwife play favourite and bicker over which creation is the better child, causing a rift in the family.
Wending their way through unforgettable lands — the Timeless Village, the Upside-Down Town, the Path of the Vicious Circle — the lads make many strange friends, who, peculiar as they are, seem strangely familiar. But, wherever Life leads them, Death lurks close behind.
A wonderful picaresque akin to a cheerful Gulliver's Travels, a comic Pilgrim's Progress or an Acadian Wizard of Oz, On the Eighth Day is a fast-moving tale starring richly developed characters in a funny and poignant road story in which allegory gains power by taking a back seat to enchantment.
Author
Antonine Maillet, a native of Bouctouche, New Brunswick, has spent her life conjuring the impossible into being. She is the author of wry and wildly inventive adult fiction, children’s books, radio and television scripts, and more than a dozen plays.
Maillet’s sparkling imagination, versatility, and commitment to giving Acadian culture a voice have been recognized at home and abroad. She was the first non-citizen of France to win the prestigious Prix Goncourt, which she received for Pélagie-la-Charette. Her now classic monologue La Sagouine won the Chalmers Canadian Play Award; Don l’Orignal won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction; and On the Eighth Day, Wayne Grady’s rollicking translation of Le Huitième Jour, won the Governor General’s Award for Translation.
Wayne Grady is an award-winning author and translator. He won the Governor General's Award for his translation of Antonine Maillet's On the Eighth Day.
Reviews
"The book's strength lies in its vibrant and pithy characters and its rare startling scenes." — Weblog Français Ottawa
"The voice of [Maillet's] narrator is what carries us along, and this voice — these voices — are so strong that I can actually hear them." — The Globe and Mail
