La route d'Altamont / Gabrielle Roy

La route d’Altamont is one of those quiet but profound books. It is fashioned as a book of memories, but it is a philosophical work centered around a theme dear to Roy’s nomadic heart: journey. Every character in this four-story cycle has le mal du départ.

La montagne secrète / Gabrielle Roy

***spoiler alert***
La montagne secrète by Gabrielle Roy is beautiful book about the nature of art and the essence of creativity. The choice of protagonist helps to deliver the message with the most clarity: he is a Canadian trapper by occupation and an artist by calling (which he is the last person to recognize). Pierre Cadorai (a meaningful surname!) is a no more a conventional artist than he is a hunter, but nevertheless he is a true and pure artist consumed completely by Art, that liberating and unforgiving force.

La fille de l'Ouest / Louise Dubuc (Montréal : Leméac, 2006)

 

La fille de l'Ouest takes the reader by the hand and transplants him/her right in the middle of the Quebec countryside. Yes, Louise Dubuc is obviously in love with Nature and understands it deeply. She knows how plants grow and how animals live, how food and love are made, how farms are run, how rivers get flooded, how the seasons bring change to Quebec's fields and forests and she writes about all this beautifully.

La Belle Bête / Marie-Claire Blais (Québec : Institut littéraire du Québec, 1959)

 

Cover of 1st edition of La Belle Bête, 1959. Source:
https://laurentiana.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/marie-claire-blais-la-belle-bete.html

Once upon a time there stood an evil farm where Hatred, Vanity and Vengeance ruled...  Marie-Claire Blais's La Belle Bête reads easy, but offers its reader no comfort, as the world of this Quebec author is cold and frightening. The characters are torn away by their passions, but the only true feelings here are hatred and envy, any positive feelings are either fake or selfish or borne by people who are either blind or mad (i. e. mentally blind). Physical beauty is one of the central themes (as the title implies), but it is always accompanied by a physical or mental flaw, and always - by a flawed soul. Yes,  in her novel Blais leaves no place for hope, no "crack" through which the light would get in. And yet it is an interesting work.

La détresse et l'enchantement / Gabrielle Roy (Montréal : Boréal Express,1984)

 … car c’est souvent en errant seule dans les villes inconnues que je suis le mieux arrivée – mais à quelque chose d’autre que ce que je pensais chercher et qui fut presque toujours meilleur.

(Gabrielle Roy, La détresse et l'enchantement)

 

La détresse et l'enchantement is a great autobiography of a woman artist.  And as any great biography it is both unique and typical. Actually it is unique and typical on not just one, but at least two levels.  The first level is a story of a young woman searching for her path in life, and the second is a story of a Manitoban French-Canadian in the first third of the 20th century, and both stories are relatable and extraordinary at the same time.

Histoire du Manitoba français : de Gabrielle Roy à Daniel Lavoie (1916-1968) / Jacqueline Blay (Saint-Boniface, Man. : Éditions des Plaines, 2016)

This book is volume 3 of the series on the history of the French Manitoba published by Les Éditions du Blé / Les Éditions des Plaines and it covers 1916-1968, the period defined by existence of the Association d’éducation des Canadiens français du Manitoba (Manitoba French-Canadian education association), the organization that made possible teaching French language in Manitoba’s schools during those 50+ years when it was prohibited by the provincial government, thus saving the culture from becoming extinct.

Des nouvelles d'Édouard / Michel Tremblay (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #4, 1991, Lemeac)

Of the 6 books from Chroniques du Plateau Mount-Royal series by Michel Tremblay Des nouvelles d'Edouard is my favorite. It is a striking book. When I took it in my hands after having read the previous three I thought this one would be another charmingly busy multi-figure anthropological canvas describing life in a certain area of Montreal. And the book indeed begins as expected. However soon it takes a completely different turn, changes genre and becomes a book on a solitary journey of self-discovery with most of the action taking place actually outside of Montreal and outside of the continent altogether.

L'Énigme du retour / Dany Laferrière (2009, Grasset)

I found Dany Laferrière's  L'Énigme du retour fascinating. What caught my attention from the beginning was its form. I  am not sure it's truly a "novel" ("roman"), I thought it was more of a long poetic essay. The combination of free verse and prose is enchanting. The subject was also very new for me, as I know so little about Haiti. And as any good book would do, this book made that previously obscure to me country somewhat closer. What made this book especially captivating were the common points I have with the author. The narrator's complex relationship with his own past, national identity and time in general are all issues that I can relate to.

Particulités / Daniel Lavoie (Les Éditions des Plaines, 2015)

Je ne lis pas les poètes, j’écoute le ciel

(Daniel Lavoie, Particulités)

As bizarre as it might seem to review a book of French language poetry in English, I will do exactly that, although it is very difficult to find an English equivalent even for the book's main tonality, la tristesse. Not quite sadness, but rather a dark tint, a beautiful melancholy. Forget everything you know about Daniel Lavoie the entertainer, with his trademark sunny smile. The narrator of Particulités is disillusioned and detached as he dissects the Universe’s mechanics, awe-inspiring and mysterious, the work of a great higher consciousness. When the narrator then descends back to Earth he observes it almost as a stranger, who despite all the vain and cruel ways of humanity, through the mundane details of everyday life senses a higher light seeking transcendence through people, nature and art (“Je sais qu’un dieu séculier cherche, à travers moi, les mots pour me dire qu’il est là” - bulletin). 

Finutilité / Daniel Lavoie (Les Éditions des Plaines, 2011)

The easy charm of finutilité

If you have never heard Daniel Lavoie read in concert some of his poems/poetic essays before they became  Finutilité - you are in for a wonderful ride. And if you are the lucky one who has  - then you have probably already bought the book!

Finutilité easily charms the reader with the author's poetic vision, his ability to see and to connect images in a truly original way, his honesty and his unique poetic intonation.