Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

G E N E R A L I N T E R E S T
In An Iron Glove
An Autobiography
Claire Martin
Translated by Philip Stratford
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA PRESS / HARVEST HOUSE IMPRINT
Claire Martin’s autobiography Dans un gant de fer
(English: In an Iron Glove) was first published in two
volumes in 1965 and 1966. Already a prizewinning
Quebec writer, the author generated a wave of controversy
with this detailed account of youth subjected to
cruelty and brutality in the early twentieth century.
Her deeply moving portrayal drew
acclaim from readers who saw aspects
of their own childhood experience
mirrored in its pages; it also
evoked resistance from traditionalists
unsettled by its
exposé of family, church,
and convent school
some decades before
the Quiet Revolution.
Written with the passion
of one who has
known harsh injustices,
this memoir
nevertheless reflects
the steady focus and
narrative skill of an
already seasoned writer.
With a richly descriptive
style and deft ironic touch,
Claire Martin tells her own
unforgettable story of a young
person confronting and finally
emerging from the oppressions of
unrestrained malign authority.
Translated into English by Philip Stratford,
In an Iron Glove was published by The Ryerson
Press in 1968 and subsequently by Harvest House
in 1975. This new edition retains the text of
Stratford’s translation and incorporates a new
introduction and several explanatory notes
by Patricia Smart.
Philip Stratford was a literary
critic and a winner of the
Governor General’s Award
for Translation.
Patricia Smart is a distinguished
research professor
in the Department
of French at Carleton
University.
BIOGRAPHY
398 pp / 6 x 9 / Available
Paper ISBN 0-7766-0612-3 /
978-07766-0612-5
£20.00 $29.95 C
8