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 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.