.jpg)
"In those inevitable moments of doubt, when the hounds of second thought run down a writer’s confidence in the merits of a project, I ask myself: Why would I want to chronicle the internal journey of a man as emphatically dead and white as Michel de Montaigne? Can I not see that my own profile as the author is a literary black hole of age, masculinity and colourlessness from which not even ink can escape?"
That’s how John Levesque describes the challenge facing him in Becoming Montaigne and Other Dangerous Pastimes. A winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Levesque brings all his powers of cheerful doubt to the task of chronicling the 107 steps to patience of Michel de Montaigne, a sixteenth century gentleman philosopher. Levesque uses Montaigne’s writings as a window into what Montaigne calls “the comedy of our existence in the world.”
The book intersperses newly translated passages from Montaigne’s essays with Levesque’s examination of the issues they raise. Topics include prophecy, chance, sadness, fear, education, moderation, the discovery of the Americas, imagination, lying, vanity, solitude, inequality, strange habits, marriage, sex, sleep, smells, prayers, awards, death, glory, friendship, love, malingering, cruelty, repentance, social manners and the disadvantages of high rank.
John Levesque's books
Geneva Farewell, a novel
(2020)
“All storytelling is driven by guilt.”
So says Peter Chaff as he recounts the days and nights he spent with Geneva Farewell. He doesn’t remember how, when or why Geneva vanished from his life. As he reconstructs those few weeks, his story expands to include the redemption of the human race.
Is Peter making it all up, as he claims more than once? Is he hallucinating? Or does he actually live on a parallel version of Earth that waits uneasily for a second message from the Sirius star system? Is he moving closer to remembering what happened to Geneva Farewell or is he running away from it?
Equal parts comedy, tragedy and inkblot test, this
kaleidoscopic love story takes us on a journey to the most elusive destination of all – the truth.
“Geneva Farewell is easier to describe than to classify. Certainly, it is a crime novel, a dystopian fantasy, a meditation on art, and a love story. But the huge achievement of this novel is that it is moving, painfully sensitive, and powerful. It is a brilliant, beautiful book.”
Joseph Kertes, award-winning author of Last Impressions
NEW!
Go to "Blog" for ongoing posts about this book!
Sometime Soon, a novel
Rosseter's Memory,
a novel
"Robert's body adopted a cool but self-deprecating slouch. He practised the slouch at home. It struck him as just the right kind of swaggering defensiveness to get him safely through high school."
"Turn to a princess for consolation because there are no princes left in the world, they're all sleeping, it's impossible to wake them, they can only wake themselves and they don't want to be disturbed, they prefer the dull alertness of their dreamless state."
Stranded on the Information Highway
"Prior to the 18th century the English-speaking world celebrated New Year's Day on March 25. This may explain why so many of us wake up on January 1 feeling disoriented, with loose bowels, a heightened sensitivity to light, short-term amnesia and the telephone number of a person named Candy in the pocket of our coat, which we for some reason wore to bed."
"Some of the most moving scenes in Rosseter's Memory occur between mother and son, as each fights to reconcile the past. In the final chapters, Levesque hits his stride as a writer with something essential to say."
The Toronto Star
Reviews
"Sometime Soon contains many passages that shimmer. The writing is, by turns, insightful, intelligent and richly poetic. Levesque has a special gift."
The Globe and Mail
"Stranded on the Information Highway is a book perfectly suited to that underappreciated repository of civilized values and the written word: the bathroom book shelf."
The Globe and Mail
