Stories that took place on Mont-Royal

February 4, 2007 4:19 PM

MontrealInspirationFilter: Do you know interesting stories, true or fictional, that took place on Mont-Royal?

It can be old news stories, or important scenes from a fictional novel. No need to go through the whole story, I'm just looking for tips and can do additional research. Emphasis on stories, not events.

posted by jchgf to grab bag (9 comments total)

In David Montrose's hardboiled detective novel The Body on Mount Royal, the story begins with a murder taking place up there.
posted by zadcat at 4:34 PM on February 4, 2007

Many scenes from the (brilliant) film Jesus of Montreal took place on Mont-Royal. These include dramatizations of the stations of the cross.
posted by sueinnyc at 4:50 PM on February 4, 2007

The author-narrated sections of William Vollman's Fathers and Crows begin on Mont-Royal, if I'm remembering it right.
posted by pullayup at 4:58 PM on February 4, 2007

Leonard Cohen comes to mind.
posted by kmennie at 5:17 PM on February 4, 2007

Try Murder in Montreal by Thomas J. Coffey

I also highly recommend going to Chapters and browsing through Kristian Gravenor's Montreal: The Unknown City... I'd quote you some relevant passages but my mother kept my copy.

Here's a bit on Mount-Royal Cemetary. No doubt if you get in touch with Kristian he can regal you with even more facts, fiction and trivia.
posted by furtive at 6:17 PM on February 4, 2007

Wasn't there a whole "God-- if you save the city I'll build a huge cross" story about some monk who had to build the cross up there because the city didn't flood? Probably wasn't the Christmas light-bedecked piece of industrial steel that's up there now, but you can do the research about the original.
posted by conch soup at 7:55 PM on February 4, 2007

Most of the books by Mordecai Richler take place in Montreal, and a lot of the action in several books centers around the Mont Royal (or Mount Royal) area. Check out the The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in particular.
posted by Kololo at 8:40 PM on February 4, 2007

There's a sci-fi book for children where a group of humans hid under the mountain (mount-royal) to survive a nuclear disaster. I forget the name but all the characters had to shave their heads and the main character (a kid) eventually ends up going outside. I'll try and find the name of the novel for you.
posted by Vindaloo at 7:07 AM on February 5, 2007

Found it! The name of the book is "Surréal 3000" by Suzanne Martel, the english name of the novel is "City Under Ground".
posted by Vindaloo at 7:12 AM on February 5, 2007