Nelly Arcan

{{short description|Canadian novelist}} {{Expand French|topic=bio|Nelly Arcan|date=September 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2013}} {{infobox writer  | name = Nelly Arcan | image = Nelly Arcan ctv.jpg | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Isabelle Fortier | birth_date = March 5, 1973 | birth_place = Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Canada | death_date = September 24, 2009 (aged 36) | death_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | occupation = Writer | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = | imagesize = | influences = | influenced = }}

'''Nelly Arcan''' (March 5, 1973 – September 24, 2009) was a Canadian novelist. Arcan was born '''Isabelle Fortier''' at Lac-Mégantic<ref name="morte"/> in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

==Biography== Arcan's first novel ''{{Interlanguage link|Putain (récit)|fr||lt=Putain}}'' (2001; English: ''Whore'' (2004)) received immediate critical and media attention.<ref name=britannica>''2010 Britannica Book of the Year'', pp. 114–115, "Arcan, Nelly"</ref> It was a finalist for both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Fémina,<ref name="cbc"/> two of France's most prestigious literary awards.<ref name=leith/> It contains similarities between the escort Cynthia in the novel and Arcan's own experience as a professional escort sex worker.<ref name=leith/>

''Putain'' was followed with three more novels that established her as a literary star in Quebec and France.<ref name=britannica/> Her second novel ''Folle'' (2004), like her first, is a semi-autobiographical and provocative work,<ref name=britannica/> and was also nominated for the Prix Femina.<ref name=leith/> Her third novel, ''À ciel ouvert'', was published in 2007. ''L'enfant dans le miroir'' (2007) is a coffee-table illustrated book about beauty. Arcan had recently completed her fourth novel ''Paradis, clef en main'' (2009; English: ''Exit'' (2011)) when she died by suicide. She also wrote several short stories, opinion pieces and columns for various Quebec newspapers and literary magazines.

==Death== Arcan was found dead in her Montreal apartment on September 24, 2009.<ref name="cbc">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-writer-nelly-arcan-dies-at-35-1.864704 |title=Quebec writer Nelly Arcan dies at 35 |date=September 25, 2009 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=2009-09-25}}</ref> She hanged herself.<ref name=leith>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/in-other-words/remembering-nelly-arcan/article1321810/ "Remembering Nelly Arcan"], Linda Leith, ''The Globe and Mail'', October 13, 2009</ref> She had just finished writing her last book, ''{{lang|fr|Paradis, Clef en main}}'', whose narrator is left disabled after a suicide attempt.<ref name="morte">{{cite news |url=http://www.canoe.com/divertissement/celebrites/nouvelles/2009/09/25/11110181-qmi.html |title=Nelly Arcan est morte |publisher=Canoe.com |date=September 25, 2009 |language=fr }}{{dead link|date=April 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> She had attempted suicide previously. On September 3, 2009, three weeks before her death, Arcan published a story in her weekly column in the Quebec French-language weekly ''Ici magazine'' entitled "''{{lang|fr|Prends-moi, ou t'es mort}}''" ("Take Me, or You're Dead"), detailing an experience with a stalker.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.24hmontreal.canoe.com/24hmontreal/icichroniques/nellyarcan/archives/2009/09/20090903-112947.html|title=Prends-moi, ou t'es mort |publisher=Canoe.ca |date=September 3, 2009|language=fr}}{{dead link|date=April 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

She is buried in Québec's Eastern Townships. Lac-Mégantic's municipal library, assembled from many of the over a hundred thousand books donated after fire destroyed the original library during 2013's Lac-Mégantic derailment, is named « La Médiathèque municipale Nelly-Arcan » in her honour.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.echodefrontenac.com/actualitedujour.asp?IdNouv=2475 |title=La Médiathèque municipale Nelly-Arcan prête pour l'automne |publisher=Écho de Frontenac, hebdo de la région de Lac-Mégantic |language=fr |accessdate=2013-09-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie-et-regions/201308/12/01-4679294-place-a-la-mediatheque-nelly-arcan.php |title=Place à la Médiathèque Nelly-Arcan |author=Ronald Martel |publisher=La Tribune (Sherbrooke) |language=fr |date=2013-08-12 |accessdate=2013-09-24 |archive-date=December 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223135254/http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie-et-regions/201308/12/01-4679294-place-a-la-mediatheque-nelly-arcan.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://mediathequenellyarcan.ca/publications/publication/article/ouverture-de-la-mediatheque/ Médiathèque Nelly Arcan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425092141/http://mediathequenellyarcan.ca/publications/publication/article/ouverture-de-la-mediatheque/ |date=April 25, 2014 }}, announcement of May 5, 2014 grand opening (en français)</ref>

Director Anne Émond's 2016 film ''Nelly'' is based on Arcan's life, starring Mylène Mackay as Arcan in her adult career and Milya Corbeil Gauvreau as Arcan in childhood.<ref>[http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/29/anne-emond-nelly-arcand_n_8215988.html "Anne Émond et les fantômes de Nelly Arcan"]. ''Huffington Post'', September 29, 2015.</ref>

==Bibliography== * ''Putain'' (2001; English: ''Whore'', translated by Bruce Benderson, 2004). * ''Folle'' (2004; English: ''Hysteric'', translated by David Homel & Jacob Homel, 2014). * ''L'enfant dans le miroir'' (2007). * ''À ciel ouvert'' (2007; English: ''Breakneck'', translated by Jacob Homel, Anvil Press, 2015). * ''Paradis, clef en main'' (2009; English: ''Exit'', translated by David Scott Hamilton, 2011). * ''Burqa de chair'' (2011; English: ''Burqa of Skin'', translated by Melissa Bull, Anvil Press, 2014).

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{cite news|url=http://www.cyberpresse.ca/dossiers/deces-de-nelly-arcan/200909/26/01-905774-le-suicide-a-toujours-ete-son-obsession.php|title=Le suicide a toujours été son obsession|last=Handfield|first=Catherine|date=September 26, 2009|language=fr|accessdate=2009-09-27}} * {{cite news |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/acclaimed-quebec-writer-found-dead-in-montreal-1.437910 |title=Acclaimed Quebec writer found dead in Montreal |date=September 25, 2009 |work=The Canadian Press |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927063411/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090925/ENT_nelly_arcan_dead_090925/20090925?hub=Entertainment |archive-date=September 27, 2009 |df=mdy-all }} {{Prostitution in Canada}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcan, Nelly}} Category:1973 births Category:2009 suicides Category:2009 deaths Category:People from Lac-Mégantic, Quebec Category:Suicides by hanging in Canada Category:Suicides in Quebec Category:Canadian female prostitutes Category:Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Category:21st-century Canadian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian women novelists Category:French-language Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists Category:Escorts Category:Novelists from Quebec Category:Female suicides