Hubert Aquin

Hubert Aquin, a Montreal-born novelist, is best known for his four modernist and complex novels. He has influenced contemporary Quebec culture as an activist, essayist, filmmaker and editor. He graduated in philosophy from the University of Montreal in 1951 before working for Radio-Canada between 1955 and 1959. He then worked at the National Film Board of Canada between 1959 and 1963. In 1959, he directed the feature-length documentary Le sport des hommes on sports and their meaning for people today. In 1961, he directed Le temps des amours, a film about the dating habits of young people in four countries.  He became an executive member of the first independence political party, the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN), from 1960 to 1969. He was arrested shortly afterwards and committed to a psychiatric institution for four months, where he wrote his first novel, Next Episode (1965), the story of an imprisoned revolutionary.