CHARBONNEAU, ROBERT

born Feb. 3, 1911, Montreal, Que., Can. died June 26, 1967, Saint-Jovite, Que. French-Canadian novelist and literary critic, well known for promoting the autonomy of Quebec literature. Charbonneau received a diploma in journalism from the University of Montreal in 1934. During his teens he had joined Jeune Canada (Young Canada), a French nationalist organization, and by 193334, on its behalf, was broadcasting pleas for Quebec independence, the French language, and Roman Catholicism. In 1934, with friend Paul Beaulieu, he founded La Relve (later called La Nouvelle Relve, The New Relief), a nationalist review of art, literature, and philosophy (it ceased publication in 1948). Over the years, Charbonneau worked as a journalist on various French journals, newspapers, and Radio Canada. Charbonneau wrote five novels, the most noted being his first, Ils possderont la terre (1941; They Shall Possess the Earth), a psychological analysis of two friends, one working-class and one bourgeois, who become rivals in love. He also published a collection of poems, Petits Pomes retrouvs (1945; Little Recovered Poems), critical essays and lectures, and radio plays.