Itinéraire de Liverpool à Québec by Louis Hémon, and: Colloque Louis Hémon. Quimper (review)

HUMANITIES '79 text of all the poems is reproduced, normally from the 1931 edition. Newspaper references for individual poems are given, but no variants: fortunately, the latter are provided in Robert Giroux's annotated edition of the poet's work (Sherbrooke: Editions Cosmos 1975). Finally, Paquin's bibliography (pp 109-15) lists no publications after 1958, thus omitting important recent articles by Paul Wyczynski and Odette Condemine, subsequently published documents like the correspondence of Charles Gill (edited by Reginald Hamel in 1969), and even Giroux's edition. In short, Paquin's work, although impressive as a pioneering study in its time, reminds us of the advances made in Quebec literary studies over the past thirty years. (DAVID M. HAYNE) Louis Hernon, Itineraire de Liverpool d Quebec Quimper, Cercle culturel quimp~rois ('Calligrammes') 1<)85. 9). $1).00 Colloque Louis Hernon. Quimper Quimper, Fondation Louis Hernon ('Calligrammes'). 2)0. $10.00 The celebration of the centenary of the birth of Louis Heman in 1980 stimulated much critical and literary activity on both sides of the Atlantic, such as the publication of Nicole Deschamps and Ghislaine Legendre's edition of Maria Chapdelaine, recit du Canada frant,ais, the first to follow the original typescript, as well as Deschamps's and her colleagues' essential LeMythe de Maria Chapdelaine. In France, there was a colloquium dedicated to Heman in his birthplace, Brest. The Quimper colloquium of 1985 was a follow-up, with stress on Heman's writings other than the seminal work set in Quebec. Another offshoot of these events is the publication of Heman's diary of his crossing of the Atlantic on his way to Canada in October 1911. In her 'Avant-Propos' to this latter text, the author's daugher, Lydia Kathleen, refers to an earlier private printing of the travelogue, and therefore characterizes it as 'quasiment un inedit: She also notes that the original ofthis journal has been lost, and that the text has been established from a photocopy which was provided to her by an unnamed 'quebecois bibliophile.' This underlines that we do not as yet have a critical edition of the Itineraire ... , the present one lacking totally in explanatory notes as to sources, time of writing and/or editing, place of same, etc. Some years ago, when perusing Alfred Ayotte and Victor Tremblay's L'Aventure Lnuis Hernon (1974), in which numerous quotes from the diary were included, I was struck by the relevance of many of these for an understanding of the structure and thrust of Maria Chapdelaine. Now, after reading the entire text, this first impression has been fully confirmed. What is fascinating is that Heman already anticipated the 180 LETTERS IN CANADA 1986 ideological denouement that he would give his famous novel some two years later. We can only surmise the reasons for this 'predisposition.' In any case, the journal's undated entries show Hernon forming many a key construct of his novel-to-be before he actually set foot on Canadian soil, or shortly after, in the streets of Old Quebec, where he disembarked in order to take a train to Montreal. Thus, the harsh Quebec climate, marked by a severe winter, is noted from the very first pages: 'Cet hiver qu'on s'imagine si redoutable de loin'; 'La mauvaise saison ... II n'est pas d'expression plus decourageante'; 'Des brumes trainantes que Ie vent dechire et ressoude sans cesse viennent du Golfe comme un cortege'; 'Ie froid homicide: etc. Yet, if Hernon is obsessed by a climate that kills, he also already attributes heroic proportions to Quebec, and in fact sketches elements of an epic 'New World' cult. The new land is already marked for him by 'une grandeur emouvante' shortly after his departure from England; and the St Lawrence takes on a symbolic moral quality: 'Ce f1euve n'a pas l'aspect asservi, humilie des cours d'eau qui traversent des villes anciennement grandes: for the river is a 'f1euve libre [qui]laisse I'impression que c'est bien Iii un pays neu£, que l'homme n'a rien fait qu'egratigner.' Most striking, though, is the germ of the much-commented mysterious voices which the love-pained and grieving Maria hears in the still of the night in the novel's critical second to last chapter. In the diary, Hernon especially stresses the resistance to change, and the durability and perseverance of the French Canadians, a theme which will later be at the heart of 'Ia voix du Quebec' which will irrevocably decide Maria's fate: 'Le sentiment qui englobe taus les autres et qui lui vient ala longue est une reconnaissance profonde envers cette race qui, en se maintenant integralement semblable iI elle-meme it travers les generations, a reconforte la nation dont elle etait issue et etonne Ie reste du monde'; 'la race qui est venue se greffer ici, si loin de chez elle, il y a si longtemps, qui a si peu change!'; 'Comment a-t-il resiste iI l'empreinte? L'on peut revenir alors vers les rues du vieux Quebec pour y chercher une reponse'; 'Les rues du vieux Quebec sont un temoignage ... ces ruelles apportent une sorte d'obstination a montrer une fois pour toutes ... de quel pays venaient les hommes qui les ant creees, qui ant depuis lars poursuivi leur tiiche, et qui n'ont guere change'; 'Les cloches de Quebec ... On se rend compte tout iI coup que leur voix etait Iii depuis Ie commencement, qu'elle n'a jamais cesse de se faire entendre ... Il y a des gens qui disent avoir entendu dans la voix des cloches toutes sortes de chases delicates et emouvantes: .. . une repetition tHue, une le~on ressassee sans fin avec solennite, une affirmation persistante et qu'il ne faut pas discuter: "C'est ainsi! ... C'est ainsi'''; 'Leur voix temoigne que Quebec n'a rien appris et rien oublie.' Clearly, the emphasized words reappear literally or in recognizable variations in chapter 15 of the novel in the passage dealing with 'la voix du Quebec.' Similarly, there are frequent HUMANITIES 181 references in the journal to scornful anglophone passengers or the immigrant 'troupeaux' or 'hordes: whom Hernon links through the adjective 'barbares.' This term reappears in the novel ('Autour de nous des etrangers sont venus, qu'il nous plait d'appeler des barbares') and will help perpetuate the Messianic myth of French Canada for many decades. This myth, which was supposedly dead and buried these past twentyfive years, unfortunately reappears in a somewhat muted but still distinct form in Bernard Duchatelet's text 'La lisiere sombre de la foret: one of the two Quimper papers dealing with Maria Chapdelaine. It is followed by Franck Rannou's stylistic study, 'Maria Chapdelaine: une ceuvre "realiste.'" The two papers take opposite tacks. The first argues simplistically for the novel's resolution, by making total abstraction of Maria's spontaneous love for Fran~ois Paradis, which is dismissed as 'illusion' and 'reve.' Maria's resignation to her lot is equated with faCing and accepting 'Ie reel.' The second, applying concepts developed by Philippe Hamon, and drawing on the ideological analysis of Nicole Deschamps and her collaborators, evokes 'reality' in a totally different way: 'Elle succombe au charme d'un discours qui se donne pour Ie reel.' But both have trouble with the celebrated 'voices' mentioned above. For Duchatelet, there is nothing unusual in the six long pages devoted to the three 'voix.' And Rannou, who skilfully analyses the novel from the point of view of the realistic aesthetic, still glosses over the break in the diegesis by the mysterious voices. The three film adaptations of Maria Chapdelaine are summarized quickly by Jean-Pierre Jeancolas, while Yvon Bellemare takes a more painstaking and justifiedly critical look at Gilles Carle's 1983 effort starring Carole Laure. An excellent text is Jean Balcou's 'Monsieur Ripois: du roman au film, du film au roman: treating Rene Clement's 1954 cinematographic adaptation of Hernon's posthumous work, which was published for the first time four years earlier. This book, and the two other London-based novels, are carefuily examined in 'Londres dans l'ceuvre de Louis Hernon' by Max-Herve Thomas, who suggests the strong influence of Marx on Hernon's treatment of social class and religion in England. AureIien Boivin and Jean Marmier probe the philosophy and humour of Hernon's writings on sports, while Audrey FreemanCampbell brings forth new information on the friendship between Hernon and Jacques de Marsillac. In addition there are interesting details on Hernon's father and uncles, and their defence of Breton culture and language, which possibly influenced the novelist's attitudes to Quebec nationalism. One would like to have learned more, however, about Louis's mother, Louise Le Breton, for, as Auguste-Pierre Segalen points out, it was she who was by far the most privileged correspondent of her son during his ten years abroad. Marring the colloquium collection, and, to a lesser extent, !tineraire ... , are a plethora of typographical errors, the misuse and abuse of capitals 182 LEITERS IN CANADA 1986 (which is both contrary to French style and visually very annoying), faulty punctuation (especially truncated quotation marks), incorrect dates, and sloppy notes. This neglect renders ironic Alain Le Grand-VeJin's praise, in his introduction to the Itineraire ... , of Hemon's 'attachement ii une culture qui passe tout entiere par Ia langue.' (B.-Z. SHEK) Pierre-Yves Mocquais. Hubert Aquin ou la quete interrompue Pierre Tisseyre 1985. 234· $'4.95 On pourrait affirmer que Ie titre de I'ouvrage de Pierre-Yves Mocquais, Quete interrompue, contient en microcosme I'element principal de cette etude. Ce dont iI s'agit essentiellement c'est, en effet, de montrer que I'ceuvre romanesque d'Aquin se caracterise par une quete qui est marquee soit par I'ambigliite, la rupture ou Ie desequilibre. Par consequent, I'etude se donne comrne objet'de degager Ies grandes etapes de cette quete ii travers les quatre romans publies d'Hubert Aquin, d'en analyser les nombreux aspects et d'en souligner la distorsion' (p 10). Evitant Ie danger de repetition et de simplification inherent ii toute analyse guidee par un fiI conducteur, Mocquais met en lumiere Ia complexite de la quete et de sa rupture dans les romans d'Aquin. En commen- ,ant avec Prochain Episode, it demontre pertinemment que la quete y revet une dimension politique axee sur une mystique revolutionnaire qui annonce Ie sens de I'ceuvre entiere: 'je dois ... tenir bon au nom de ce qui est sacre, car je porte en moi Ie germe de la revolution. je suis son tabernacle impur' (Prochain Episode, p 171). Mais en meme temps, Mocquais met en relief I'envers de la quete dans ce roman, ou plus precisement sa rupture, qui prend la forme de I'emprisonnement physique et psychologique du narrateur. Dans Trou de memoire, ce n'est plus la revolution mais la maitrise de I'art et de la culture qui fait I'objet de Ia quiHe, maitrise cependant iIIusoire puisqu'elle est traversee par I'eclatement des formes narratives ou se depolie la puissance de la rupture. Avec L'Antiphonaire, Mocquais suggere que la quete se poursuit par Ie biais d'une 'ecriture salvatrice' ou s'affirme un desir de I'absolu. Gouvemee par Ie merne processus d'interruption qui marque Ies autres romans, I'impasse de ce desir 5'exprime par l'epilepsie et la difficulte d'ecrire. Et enfin, Neige noire, ceuvre profondement marquee par les points Iimites de la rupture, a savoir, l'inceste, la violence et la mort, s'oriente, comme Ie montre bien Mocquais, vers la quete ultime: une nouvelle mystique dans Ie mystere de la revelation divine. De celte fa,on, ce roman contient non seulement une synthese des ceuvres precedentes rnais it actualise I'element mystique dans Prochain Episode: 'C'est entre ces deux poles, celui de la revolution et celui de la revelation, au sein meme de l'ecriture romanesque et par elle, que se deroule la quete' (p 219). ...