An analysis of the artist's place in society, centred on the work of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, has won Montreal's $15,000 Grand Prix du Livre.
Partita pour Glenn Gould: Musique et forme de vie, by University of Quebec in Montreal professor Georges Leroux, was named the winner on Wednesday at Montreal city hall.
Glenn Gould is the subject of Montreal professor Georges Leroux's award-winning book.
(CBC/Canadian Press)
Leroux, a retired professor of philosophy and an avid Gould fan, has written the book in seven chapters corresponding to the seven pieces of a suite, or partita, in classical music.
Gould, an eccentric and passionate artist known for his interpretation of the Goldberg Variations, died in 1982.
"Gould was an incredible philosopher," Leroux told the Montreal Gazette. "He read Kant, Hegel, Pfister. He did all sorts of reading in philosophy. And he was fascinated by esthetics."
An English edition of the book is in the works, he said.
Partita pour Glenn Gould beat four other contenders, including Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals, to win the annual award for the best book in English or French by a Montreal writer.
Other nominees were:
- Paul Chanel Malenfant for the poetry collection Rue Daubenton.
- Esther Croft for the novel Le reste du temps.
- Sherry Simon for the essay Translating Montreal: Episodes in the Life of a Divided City.
O'Neill's Lullabies was CBC's Canada Reads choice for 2008 and also has been nominated for a Governor General's Award.
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