Yann Martel Explained

Yann Martel
Birth Date:25 June 1963
Birth Place:Salamanca, Spain
Occupation:Novelist
Alma Mater:Trent University
Period:1988–present
Notableworks:Life of Pi, Beatrice and Virgil, The High Mountains of Portugal
Partner:Alice Kuipers (2002–present)
Relatives:Émile Martel (father)
Children:4
Signature:Yann Martel signature (cropped).jpg

Yann Martel, (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian author who wrote the Man Booker Prize–winning novel Life of Pi,[1] [2] [3] [4] an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, among many other best-selling lists.[5] Life of Pi was adapted for a movie directed by Ang Lee,[6] [7] garnering four Oscars including Best Director[8] [9] and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.[10]

Martel is also the author of the novels The High Mountains of Portugal,[11] [12] Beatrice and Virgil,[13] [14] [15] and Self,[16] [17] [18] the collection of stories The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and a collection of letters to Canada's Prime Minister 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. He has won a number of literary prizes, including the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction[19] [20] and the 2002 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.[21]

Martel lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with writer Alice Kuipers and their four children.[22] [23] [24] His first language is French, but he writes in English.[25]

Early life

Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963 to French-Canadians Émile Martel and Nicole Perron who were studying at the University of Salamanca. His mother was enrolled in Hispanic studies while his father was working on a PhD on Spanish writer Miguel de Unamuno.[26] The family moved to Coimbra, Portugal, soon after his birth, then to Madrid, Spain, then to Fairbanks, Alaska, and finally to Victoria, British Columbia; his father taught at the Universities of Alaska and Victoria.[27] His parents joined the Canadian foreign service, and he was raised in San José, Costa Rica, Paris, France, and Madrid, Spain, with stints in Ottawa, Ontario, in between postings.[28] [29] Martel completed his final two years of high school at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario,[30] [31] and he completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.[32]

Martel worked at odd jobs as an adult, including as a parking lot attendant in Ottawa, a dishwasher in a tree-planting camp in northern Ontario, and a security guard at the Canadian embassy in Paris. He also travelled through Mexico, South America, Iran, Turkey, and India.[33] [34] [35] He started writing while he was at university, writing plays and short stories that were "blighted by immaturity and dreadful", as he describes them.[36] [37] [38]

Martel moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with Kuipers in 2003.[39]

Career

Martel's work first appeared in print in 1988 in The Malahat Review with his short story Mister Ali and the Barrelmaker.[40] The Malahat Review also published in 1990 his short story The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, for which he won the 1991 Journey Prize and which was included in the 1991–1992 Pushcart Prize Anthology.[41] In 1992, the Malahat brought out his short story The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton, for which he won a National Magazine Award gold.[42] The cultural magazine Border Crossings published his short story Industrial Grandeur in 1993.[43] That same year, a bookstore in Ottawa that hosted Martel for a reading issued a handcrafted, limited edition of some of his stories, Seven Stories.[44]

Martel credits The Canada Council for the Arts for playing a key role in fostering his career, awarding him writing grants in 1991 and 1997. In the author's note of his novel Life of Pi, he thanked them and wrote: "… If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams."[45] [46]

In 1993, Knopf Canada published a collection of four of Martel's short stories: The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, the eponymous story, as well as The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto..., Manners of Dying, and The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company. On first publication, the collection appeared in Canada, the UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, and Germany.

Martel's first novel, Self, appeared in 1996. It was published in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany.[47]

Martel's second novel Life of Pi, was published on September 11, 2001, and was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2002, among other awards, and became a bestseller, spending 61 weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List. Martel had been in New York the previous day, leaving on the evening of the 10th for Toronto to make the publication of his novel the next morning.[48] He was inspired in part to write a story about sharing a lifeboat with a wild animal after reading a review of the novella Max and the Cats by Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar in The New York Times Book Review. Martel received some criticism from Brazilian press for failing to consult with Scliar.[49] [50] Martel pointed out that he could not have stolen from a work he had not yet read, and he willingly acknowledged being influenced by the New York Times review of Scliar's work and thanked him in the author's note of Life of Pi.[51] [52] Life of Pi was later chosen for the 2003 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads competition, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee.[53] Its French translation, Histoire de Pi, was included in the debut French version of the competition Le combat des livres in 2004, championed by singer Louise Forestier.

Martel was the Samuel Fischer Visiting Professor at the Institute of Comparative Literature, Free University of Berlin in 2002, where he taught a course titled "The Animal in Literature".[54] He then spent a year in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, from September 2003 as the Saskatoon Public Library's writer-in-residence.[55] He collaborated with Omar Daniel, composer-in-residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, on a piece for piano, string quartet and bass. The composition, You Are Where You Are, is based on text written by Martel, which incorporates parts of cellphone conversations from an ordinary day.[56] [57]

From 2005 to 2007, Martel was visiting scholar at the University of Saskatchewan.[58] [59]

Beatrice and Virgil, his third novel, came out in 2010. The work is an allegorical take on the Holocaust, attempting to approach the period not through the lens of historical witness, but through imaginative synthesis.[60] The main characters in the story are a writer, a taxidermist, and two stuffed animals: a red howler monkey and a donkey.[61]

From 2007 to 2011, Martel ran a book club with the then Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, sending the Prime Minister a book every two weeks for four years, a total of more than a hundred novels, plays, poetry collections, graphic novels and children's books.[62] [63] The letters were published as a book in 2012, 101 Letters to a Prime Minister.[64] [65] The Polish magazine Histmag cited him as the inspiration behind their giving of ten books to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which had been donated by their publishers and selected by readers of the magazine. Tusk reacted very positively.[66]

Martel was invited to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2014.[67] He sat on the Board of Governors of the Saskatoon Public Library from 2010 to 2015.[68]

His fourth novel, The High Mountains of Portugal, was published on February 2, 2016. It tells of three characters in Portugal in three different time periods, who cope with love and loss each in their own way.[69] [70] It made The New York Times Bestseller list within the first month of its release.[71]

Published works

Awards and accolades

The High Mountains of Portugal

Beatrice and Virgil

Life of Pi

'The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios' (short story)

Film adaptations

Theatrical adaptations

Influences

Martel has said in a number of interviews that Dante's Divine Comedy is the single most impressive book he has ever read. In talking about his most memorable childhood book, he recalls Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet. He said that he read it when he was ten years old, and it was the first time he found a book so heartbreaking that it moved him to tears.[93]

His writing influences include Dante Alighieri, Franz Kafka, Joseph Conrad, Nikolai Gogol, Sinclair Lewis, Moacyr Scliar,[94] Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, Alphonse Daudet,[95] J.M. Coetzee and Knut Hamsun.[96]

Honours

Ribbon Description Notes
Companion of the Order of Canada (C.C.)
  • Awarded on December 29, 2021, Invested on November 17, 2022.
  • For his contribution to literature and for his philanthropic commitment to the betterment of his region.[97]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Tigers and Tall Tales. https://web.archive.org/web/20090724151839/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/tigers-and-tall-tales/. usurped. July 24, 2009. Dunn. Jennifer. The Oxonian Review. 2. University of Oxford. 2. 1 March 2003. 3 February 2011.
  2. Web site: Life of Pi . . 31 August 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101202165343/http://themanbookerprize.com/prize/books/42 . 2 December 2010 .
  3. News: Canadian wins Booker Prize / 'Life of Pi' is tale of a boy who floats across the ocean from India . Kipen, David . 23 October 2002 . San Francisco Chronicle . 31 August 2010.
  4. News: Life of Pi wins Booker . Reynolds, Nigel . 30 September 2002 . The Daily Telegraph . UK . 3 September 2010 .
  5. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-bestsellers-of-2002/article1029255/ The Globe and Mail Bestseller List 2002
  6. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/25/ang-lee-best-director-oscar-life-of-pi Ang Lee wins best director Oscar for Life of Pi
  7. Hiscock, John (19 December 2012). "Ang Lee, interview: how he filmed the unfilmable for Life of Pi". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  8. News: Brooks. Xan. Ang Lee wins best director Oscar for Life of Pi. 17 October 2013. The Guardian. 25 February 2013.
  9. Brooks, Xan (5 February 2013).Ang Lee wins best director Oscar for Life of Pi. The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  10. http://www.classicfm.com/composers/danna/news/mychael-danna-wins-best-soundtrack-oscar/#di6Y11MZitxVjoar.97 Mychael Danna Wins Best Soundtrack Oscar for Life of Pi
  11. http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/242201/high-mountains-portugal Knopf Canada: The High Mountains of Portugal
  12. Charles, Ron (21 January 2016).Yann Martel's 'The High Mountains of Portugal' is his best since 'Life of Pi'. The Washington Post, Book World. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  13. Barber, John. "Martel's post-modern Holocaust allegory fetches $3-million advance", The Globe and Mail, 6 April 2010.
  14. Woog, Adam. 'Beatrice and Virgil': Yann Martel's haunting fable of humans, animals and violence, The Seattle Times, 17 April 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  15. Wyndham, Susan. Books To Watch in 2010, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 January 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. News: Martel protests level of arts funding by sending PM books . 17 April 2002 . Saskatoon Star Phoenix . 30 November 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121107124210/http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/third_page/story.html?id=bc008e62-a986-43aa-b508-16eeef466135 . 7 November 2012 . dead.
  17. News: Toronto Star . 6 compete for first novel award . 28 March 1997 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121024021951/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/16755150.html?dids=16755150:16755150&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+28,+1997&author=&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=6+compete+for+first+novel+award&pqatl=google. dead. October 24, 2012.
  18. News: An unforgettable exploration of a self . https://web.archive.org/web/20121024021909/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/19206092.html?dids=19206092:19206092&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+04,+1996&author=By+Philip+Marchand+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=An+unforgettable+exploration+of+a+self&pqatl=google . dead . October 24, 2012 . 4 May 1996 . Philip . Marchand . 30 November 2009 .
  19. http://quebecbooks.qwf.org/awards/year/2001 Winner of The Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction 2001.
  20. https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/yann-martel British Council, Yann Martel Biography.
  21. http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/winners/2001-2003-awards/ 2001–2003 Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature
  22. http://www.saskatoonlibrary.ca/node/846 Saskatoon Public Library, Collections Connections
  23. Black, Grant (27 May 2011). Alice Kuipers: "A Woman of Style and Substance". Chatelaine Magazine, Canada. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  24. http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/life-after-pi/ Life After Pi
  25. http://www.quoterature.com/yann-martel-quotes Quoterature
  26. https://books.google.com/books?id=kucUAQAAIAAJ&q=Nicole+Perron+Martel Google Books, Twenty-first-century Canadian writers
  27. http://www.le-mot-juste-en-anglais.com/2013/07/traducteur-et-traductrice-du-mois-de-juillet.html Émile Martel et Nicole Perron Martel
  28. http://www.academiedeslettresduquebec.ca/membres/emile-martel-94 L'Académie des lettres du Québec
  29. http://www.litterature.org/recherche/ecrivains/martel-emile-330/ L'ÎLE, l'Infocentre littéraire des écrivains
  30. Brown, Mick (1 June 2010). Yann Martel: in search of understanding. The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  31. http://www.tcs.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222&Itemid=462 Notable Alumni
  32. Mann Booker Prize Winner and Author of Life of Pi Yann Martel Returns to Trent on March 31 . 28 March 2006 . 30 November 2009 .
  33. https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/yann-martel British Council Literature: Yann Martel
  34. http://www.library.nashville.org/NashvilleReads/LifeofPi_AuthorBio_Synopsis.pdf Nashville Public Library: Yann Martel
  35. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/yann-martel/ Canadian Encyclopedia: Yann Martel
  36. http://www.trentu.ca/newsevents/newsDetail.php?newsId=14967 Best-Selling Author and Trent Alum Yann Martel Launches New Book
  37. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtTtUU1aD2g Trent Luminary – Yann Martel
  38. http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/02/magic-8-yann-martel.html Yann Martel on why Life of Pi didn't make him a better writer
  39. http://www.montana.edu/convocation/2013/ 2013 Montanan State University, Freshman Convocation and Summer Reading 2013
  40. http://www.malahatreview.ca/issues/featured/issue84.html The 50 Issues Project, Issue #84
  41. http://www.malahatreview.ca/documents/brochure.pdf "Brochure"
  42. http://openjour.uvic.ca/index.php/malahat/article/view/3883 Encyclopedia.com: Yann Martel
  43. http://bordercrossingsmag.com/magazine/issue/issue-47 Border Crossings: Issue 47
  44. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/35941554 worldcat.org: Seven Stories
  45. http://canadacouncil.ca/council/artists/y/yann-martel Canada Council for the Arts: Yann Martel
  46. http://www.oknovels.com/life-pi?page=0%2525252C114,3 OK Novels: Excerpt, Life of Pi
  47. http://www.quillandquire.com/review/self-a-novel/ Quill & Quire: Self, A Novel
  48. Rule, Matt (22 August 2013).Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Montana State University Survival Guide. Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Montana State University. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  49. News: Booker winner in plagiarism row. The Guardian. November 2002. 5 January 2013.
  50. News: Autor de 'As Aventuras de Pi' é suspeito de plagiar brasileiro (portuguese). January 2013. Folha de S.Paulo. 13 February 2013.
  51. Hemminger, Peter (13 March, 2106). The Poseurs Guide to Yann Martel. Calgary Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  52. Simas, Shed (12 July 2014). On Life of Pi, Plagiarism and the Media. Shed Simas. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  53. http://www.cbc.ca/books/booksandauthors/2010/08/life-of-pi.html Life of Pi was defended by Nancy Lee on Canada Reads 2003
  54. https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/presse/informationen/fup/2010/fup_10_085/index.html Tomas Venclova Is Latest Samuel Fischer Visiting Professor at Freie Universität Berlin
  55. http://www.saskatoonlibrary.ca/node/480 Writers in Residence at Saskatoon Public Library, 1981–2013
  56. http://www.rcmusic.ca/media/news-releases/arc-premieres-new-work-europe ARC Premieres New Work in Europe
  57. http://www.arcensemble.com/recordings.php ARC Ensemble: Recordings, Concert Excerpts
  58. http://www.arts.usask.ca/news/n/3/Yann_Martel_Appointed_as_a_Visiting_Scholar_in_English Yann Martel Appointed as a Visiting Scholar in English
  59. Will, Joanne (Summer 2008). Yann Martel: Life of Yann. Nuvo Magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  60. Multiple sources:
  61. Malla, Pasha (9 April 2010)."Fiction, or is it?". The Globe & Mail, Canada, 9 April 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  62. Adams, James (9 June 2009). The Globe and Mail: Yann Martel hears from Harper('s team). The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  63. Smith, Joanna (1 February 2011).Yann Martel shuts down Harper book club. The Star online. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  64. News: Canadian novelist Yann Martel mailed a book to Prime Minister Stephen Harper twice a month for the past four years. Toronto Star. 1 February 2011. 18 February 2016. 0319-0781. Joanna. Smith.
  65. https://ipolitics.ca/2012/11/28/101-letters-to-a-prime-minister-yann-martel-opens-up-his-book-club/ 101 Letters to a Prime Minister: Yann Martel opens up his book club
  66. Web site: Premier odebrał książki od internautów!. Histmag. 26 August 2014.
  67. http://rsliterature.org/fellows/current-fellows/ Royal Society of Literature, List Current Fellows
  68. Multiple sources:
  69. Broida, Mike (12 February 2016).The New York Times Sunday Book Review: The High Mountains of Portugal. The New York Times. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  70. Zimmerman, Jean (5 February 2016).NPR Book Review: Confronting Loss While Scaling 'The High Mountains Of Portugal'. NPR. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  71. https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2016-02-28/hardcover-fiction/list.html New York Times Bestseller List, February 28, 2016: The High Mountains of Portugal
  72. https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2010-05-02/hardcover-fiction/list.html Best Sellers
  73. http://www.boston.com/ae/books/blog/2010/04/boston_globe_be_6.html Best Sellers
  74. http://projects.latimes.com/bestsellers/authors/yann-martel/ Best Sellers
  75. http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/95065859.html Local Best Sellers
  76. http://www.macleans.ca/authors/brian-bethune/bestsellers-80/ Macleans Best Sellers
  77. Wagner, Vit (7 April 2010). "Life of Pi writer Yann Martel returns with new book". Toronto Star, Entertainment / Books, 7 April 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  78. http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2012-longlist/ International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Long List 2012
  79. Blau, Rosie (3 December 2010). FT Fiction Round-up 2010. Financial Times, Fiction Round-up 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  80. http://www.bookweb.org/news/life-pi-wins-2002-man-booker-prize-fiction Life of Pi Wins 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
  81. Scott, Catherine (25 February 2013). 'Life of Pi' author to speak at freshman convocation. Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Montana State University Survival Guide. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  82. http://www.gallimard-jeunesse.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD-JEUNESSE/Bibliotheque-Gallimard-Jeunesse/L-Histoire-de-Pi Life Of Pi entry
  83. http://www.editionsxyz.com/catalogue/563.html Life Of Pi entry
  84. http://www.coventry.gov.uk/blog/bookawards2014/post/292/scene-it-read-it-life-of-pi Scene It Read It – Life Of Pi
  85. http://www.quillandquire.com/omni/best-books-of-2001/ Quill & Quire Best Books 2001
  86. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/ Life of Pi
  87. Barber, John (14 January 2013). "Life after Pi: How Yann Martel's moved on from his book and Oscar-worthy film". The Globe & Mail online. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  88. Medley, Mark (21 November 2012). Life of Pi author Yann Martel: "Overall, I think it's a wonderful companion piece". National Post. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  89. Lederhouse, Craig (30 July 2012). Yann Martel on the Life of Pi trailer. CBC Books, First aired on The Afternoon Edition (26/7/12). Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  90. http://www.library.nashville.org/nashvillereads/lifeofpi_authorbio_synopsis.pdf Yann Martel Author Bio
  91. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435181/ Manners of Dying
  92. http://www.factorytheatre.ca/extra-information/201314-season/beatrice-and-virgil/ Beatrice and Virgil at the Factory Theatre
  93. http://www.abebooks.com/docs/authors-corner/yann-martel.shtml Exclusive Interview – Life of Yann Martel
  94. The Empathetic Imagination – An Interview with Yann Martel . Sielkl . Sabine . . 177 . University of British Columbia Press . 2003 . 3 February 2011.
  95. Web site: Exclusive Interview – Life of Yann Martel . . 3 February 2011 . 18 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918212616/https://www.abebooks.co.uk/docs/authors-corner/yann-martel.shtml . dead.
  96. Web site: Yann Martel author of Life of Pi . Sandall . Simon . readersvoice.com . 10 January 2009 . 3 February 2011.
  97. Web site: Mr. Yann Martel. The Governor General of Canada. December 29, 2021.

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