Jacques Godbout, one of Quebec's best-known writers, has established a solid reputation for himself both inside and outside his own province. In addition to his long career as a filmmaker, Godbout has published several collections of poetry and various other works (a 1984 book, Souvenirs Shop, retrospectively brings together poetry and prose from the period 1956-1960), but by far his greatest contributions to contemporary Quebec literature are his six novels, beginning with L'Aquarium in 1962. All of the novels were published in France, and three of them, Le Couteau sur la table, Salut Galarneau!, and L'Isle au dragon, have been translated into English and enjoyed considerable success in English Canada. Often humorous and always entertaining, Godbout's novels are an extraordinary mixture of realism and fantasy, encompassing a serious discussion of the social and political problems of Quebec during and after the Quiet Revolution and highly imaginative storytelling which often tends...