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Authority record- CA QUA00280
- Person
- 25 Feb. 1920-21 Feb. 2005
Gérard Bessette (Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois, Quebec, 25 February 1920 Kingston, Ontario, 21 February 2005) was a French Canadian writer and educator.
Bessette grew up in Montreal and attended the Collège Saint-Ignace. He continued his studies at the Université de Montréal, where in 1950 he completed his doctorate entitled Images in French-Canadian poetry.
Unable to obtain an academic position in Quebec because of his atheism, he taught at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh from 19511957. He then found a job in Kingston, Ontario, first at Royal Military College of Canada in 1958, and then in the Department of French Studies at Queen's University from 1959 to 1979. Bessette's novel Le cycle (1971) won the Governor General's Award, and in 1980 he was awarded the Prix Athanase-David, Quebec's highest literary honour.
Several of Bessette's works address issues that led to and were representative of the Révolution tranquille, a series of societal shifts that took place in Quebec during the 1960s, which saw increased secularization and a general movement away from the influence of the Catholic Church. His earlier works are written in a realistic style, while his later novels utilize elements of the nouveau roman literary movement and tend to be more experimental. His literary criticism is noted for its Freudian readings of Québécois literature.
One of his most noted works is Le libraire (1960), an existential tale of a book store employee in a small Quebec town in the 1950s. The book deals with one of Bessette's most common themes: the stifling culture of Quebec of that time.
- CA QUA02661
- Corporate body
- 1908-
Founded as a singular Jewish community in Kingston in 1908, Beth Israel Orthodox Congregation was so named on October 9, 1910, when Simon Oberndorffer laid the cornerstone for Kingston's first synagogue building. The shul was located at 148 Queen Street and adopted the name. Beth Israel Orthodox congregation members are served through a variety of programs and events, such as adult education, a Talmud Torah School, Jewish community events, and regular Friday evening and Saturday services. Most significantly, Beth Israel gives people the opportunity to share life cycle events and to feel part of a vibrant Kingston Jewish community. While established as an Orthodox congregation, in 2012, Beth Israel adopted the ritual of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in its egalitarian form allowing every member of the “Kehilla” (congregation) to participate fully and equally in all religious practices.
Its mission is as follows: "The Beth Israel Congregation is committed to meeting the religious, educational, social and cultural needs of our members in a warm, welcoming, and supportive atmosphere. Beth Israel is a house of worship and also a meeting place for the wider Jewish community in Southeast Ontario."
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