THE MANUSCRIPTS OF PAULINE ARCHANGE.

New York:: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,, (1970).. Hardcover first edition -. Fine in magenta boards with gilt lettering on the spine in a very near fine dustjacket (a hint of toning to the spine of the dj . First US printing. An early book by this award-winning French-Canadian novelist, poet and playwright, one which forms a diary of Pauline's youthful years "reproved by her mother for her wayward and hardhearted independence; rebuked by Mother Sainte-Scholastique who has a 'cruel sovereignty' over the sisters and children until threatened, just a little, by Miss Leonard who is more interested in saving bodies than souls; loving first Seraphine who dies and later Louisette, sent away to a sanatorium; and growing up in the dark, dank city where 'mankind, hardly able to breathe, seemed to have simply given up existing.' Once again the imminent lyrical talent which distinguishes everything Marie-Claire Blais has written glances off page after lovely page - she's an incomparably gentle but decisive writer." (Kirkus) Winner of the Governor General's Prize. Translated from the French by Derek Coltman. 217 pp. Dust jacket design by Charles Skaggs.