The English Governess

A classic of Canadian erotica, this is the original restored edition of the flagellation story Glassco crafted for the notorious Paris publisher Maurice Girodias and his Olympia Press.

John Glassco (1909-1981) came from an established Montréal family, and lived the better part of his life near the village of Foster in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He was a distinguished poet, novelist, essayist and translator—the Glassco prize for translation was named after him. His works include the widely acclaimed Memoirs of Montparnasse (1970), A Point of Sky (1964), The Fatal Woman (1974) and Selected Poems (1971) for which he won the Governor General’s Award.

Michael Gnorowski, who introduces The English Governess , knew Glassco for many years. He has recently published a new edition of Glassco’s Selected Poems with notes and an introduction, 1997, and edited Glassco’s Memoirs of Montparnasse with an introduction and annotation for Oxford University Press, 1995.