 First edition | |
| Author | Paul Quarrington |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Random House Canada |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 304 pp |
| Preceded by | Galveston |
The Ravine is a novel by Paul Quarrington, published in 2008 by Random House Canada. [1] It was Quarrington's tenth novel, and the last one published during his lifetime. [2]
Paul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.
Quarrington acknowledged that the novel was his most explicitly semi-autobiographical work. "It's about a writer who squanders his talents in television, drinks too much, screws around and ruins his marriage," Quarrington said. "The reason it's 'semi-autobiographical' is the guy's name is 'Phil.'" [3] In a notable inversion, however, Quarrington was renowned primarily as a novelist and had a secondary career as a film and television screenwriter, while the novel's protagonist Phil McQuigge has worked entirely in television and is only beginning to work on his first novel. [4] However, in some other interviews, instead of emphasizing the autobiographical aspects, Quarrington described the novel as what would have happened if he had been the author of Mystic River instead of Dennis Lehane. [1]
Mystic River is a novel by Dennis Lehane that was published in 2001. It won the 2002 Dilys Award and was made into an Academy Award-winning film in 2003.
Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring a couple of protagonists and other recurring characters, including A Drink Before the War. Of these, his fourth, Gone, Baby, Gone, was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name.
In the novel, television writer Phil McQuigge is haunted by memories of a childhood incident when he, his brother and a classmate named Norman were accosted and tied up in a ravine by two violent older boys; however, he lost touch with Norman soon afterward and has never fully understood what happened. [5] In the process of writing his novel about the incident, he resolves to track Norman down to find out once and for all. [5]
Quarrington told The Globe and Mail that he and his brother did have a childhood incident in a ravine, although he stated that the real incident wasn't as dramatic or as enduringly haunting as the way he chose to fictionalize it for the sake of the novel. [5]
The Globe and Mail is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of 2,018,923 in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it falls slightly behind the Toronto Star in overall weekly circulation because the Star publishes a Sunday edition while the Globe does not. The Globe and Mail is regarded by some as Canada's "newspaper of record".
Quarrington's 2008 short film Pavane, his first film as a director, was an adaptation of the novel. [6] It stars Geraint Wyn Davies and Ted Dykstra as Phil McQuigge and his brother Jay.
Geraint Wyn Davies is a Welsh-born Canadian stage, film and television actor-director. Educated in Canada, he has worked in his native United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. His most famous role is likely that of vampire-turned-police detective Nick Knight in the Canadian television series Forever Knight.
Ted Dykstra is a Canadian playwright and actor. He was born in Ontario in 1961 and grew up in St. Albert, Alberta. He is a founding member of Soulpepper Theatre Company. Writing credits include Two Pianos Four Hands, Dorian, and Evangeline. Notable acting performances include Bach in Bach's Fight for Freedom and Ed Broadbent in Mulroney: The Opera, as well as some voice work. Voice acting includes but is not limited to Dad Tiger in Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.
The novel was a longlisted nominee for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize. [7]
