Touch of Madness

Let’s get this out of the way: Réjean Ducharme’s Swallowed is an absolute classic in Quebec. The 1966 novel is widely taught in high schools and universities, and the fact that an English translation wasn’t available in Canada until last year is scandalous. But too much focus on Ducharme’s canonical status is misleading. It makes reading him sound like an obligation, the literary equivalent of eating your vegetables. The experience is closer to a dose of mushrooms — and not the kind your mom would serve.

Ducharme’s debut, which was originally published as L’Avalée des avalés, revolves around the rebellion of Berenice Einberg, a nine-year-old girl who grows up on an unnamed rat-infested island in the St. Lawrence. Her father is Jewish, her mother Polish Catholic. The parents each claim a child for their cultural heritage — Berenice’s older brother is literally named...