St. Urbain's Horseman Explained

St. Urbain's Horseman
Author:Mordecai Richler
Country:Canada
Language:English
Publisher:McClelland & Stewart (Canada)
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK)
Alfred A. Knopf (US)
Release Date:1971
Media Type:Print
Pages:462 pages (first edition)
Preceded By:Cocksure
Followed By:Joshua Then and Now

St. Urbain's Horseman is the seventh novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. First published in 1971[1] [2] by McClelland & Stewart, it won the Governor General's Award for 1971.

Plot and setting

The novel is set in London and Montreal during the late 1960s. The protagonist, Jake Hersh, first appeared in Richler's fourth novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, as a schoolmate of the title character. Now, almost twenty years later, Hersh is a moderately successful film director, married with three children, who has become embroiled in a sordid sex scandal. With his world crumbling around him, Jake continues to be obsessed with the mystery of his long-lost cousin and idol Joey, an adventurer, Nazi-hunter and Spanish Civil War veteran.

Translations

This novel has been translated into Spanish, by Manuel Bartolomé López, from the Weidenfeld and Nicolson edition, as El jinete de san Urbano (Barcelona/Buenos Aires/Mexico City: Best Sellers Grijalbo, 1975, 1st edition in Spanish).

Notes and References

  1. News: St. Urbain's Horseman: Young too late, old too soon . The New York Times . Jonathan Yardley . 1971-06-27 . 2020-11-17.
  2. News: Books of the Times: Joey Played the Game His Way . The New York Times . Thomas Lask . 1971-07-12 . 2020-11-17.