Maria Chapdelaine (version 2): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Maria Chapdelaine (version 2), credited to Louis Hémon, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Maria Chapdelaine (version 2) by Louis Hémon. (Translated by W. H. Blake.) Read in English by Bruce Pirie The novel Maria Chapdelaine portrays life in rural Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century. Published first in French in 1913, it is a famous example of the genre known as "novels of the land" ("romans du terroir"). These stories sought to reinforce and preserve the cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage of French Canada — a heritage at risk because of French Canada's historical situation as a conquered enclave inside English North America. Maria is a young woman whose family works the farm they have cleared from the harsh Quebec forest — "a land that has no pity." As young men seek her hand in marriage, she must clarify her own identity, struggling not only with the problem of selecting from among her suitors, but also with her relationship to the land and to her heritage. The author Louis Hémon had immigrated from France just two years before writing this novel, and worked on a farm in the Lac Saint-Jean region where the story is set. Hémon died accidentally before seeing his novel in print. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Maria Chapdelaine (version 2)
• Author credits: Louis Hémon
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 16
• Listed recording duration: 5:19:29

Catalogue topics

• romance
• Quebec
• settlers
• farm life
• french canada
• novel of the land
• roman du terroir
• cultural heritage

Track guide

1. 01 - Peribonka — 29:41
2. 02 - Home in the Clearing — 19:08
3. 03 - François Passes By — 13:38
4. 04 - Wild Land — 18:27
5. 05 - The Vows — 30:20
6. 06 - The Stuff of Dreams — 15:31
7. 07 - A Meager Reaping — 5:05
8. 08 - Entrenched Against Winter — 10:31
9. 09 - One Thousand Aves — 20:45
10. 10 - Straying Tracks — 23:03
11. 11 - The Interpreter of God — 12:33
12. 12 - Love Bearing Gifts — 29:09
13. 13 - Love Bearing Chains — 16:01
14. 14 - Into the Deep Silence — 37:51
15. 15 - That We Perish Not — 36:05
16. 16 - Pledged to the Race — 1:41

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.