The Gaullist Attack on Canada, 1967–1997 by J.F. Bosher (review)

562 letters in canada 1999 the spectacle. Lepage's productions desacralize language partly by emphasizing its dimension of pure sound, at times foregrounded technologically by a sampler that filters and `recognizes' the different phonemes and associates a specific pitch for each, thus emitting musical sounds that vary from one performance to another, and from one linguistic version to another. Part of the transformation process which he declares to be the very foundation of his work is the strategy of reversing the conventional order of theatrical production from writing/rehearsal/performance/translation, to rehearsal/performance/translation/writing, with the starting point of most creations becoming the final point of Lepage's collective creations. The performances of these works-in-progress are not considered as the final fixed outcome, but as stages in the evolving creative process: public forms of actors' improvisations, rehearsals to which audiences are invited to re/act. A selection of photographs gives readers insights into Lepage's stagecraft, notably his trademark techniques of playing with time and space, his magical metamorphoses and technical sleights of hand. These range from superimposition and stratification, and a cinematic shifting perspective produced by minimalist but sophisticated use of bodies and lighting, to sets whose highly technological conception paradoxically allows great simplicity, whether they be pivoting islands of steel or large rotating cubes indicating disorder or the passage of time. The use of exogenous cultural materials B performing taï-chi to the music of Peter Gabriel or Philip Glass B is rooted in a long syncretic tradition, but all the while arguing that intercultural borrowing cannot but be on the rise along with globalization, Lepage admits to being criticized for the `tributes' he pays to other artists. Within Québec society, the criticism is often directed at Lepage's ambition to go beyond a national perspective and build a company of international calibre, through multilingual collaborations bringing together international partners in the spheres of artistic creation, finance, and technology. Although Lepage's interculturalism is often resented, the director argues that it is a political as well as an artistic statement. He insists that performing plays that are partly or largely in French before monolingual audiences elsewhere is a more effective promotion of francophone Québec culture than any political speech could be. This book is a fascinating incursion into the mind of an artist who openly admits to being a trickster (a more appropriate translation for the chapter `Le tricheur' than `The Cheat' suggested by Taylor). His art of theatre does revolve around cunning tricks, adroit ingenious devices, that spin the illusions that delight us all. (MARTA DVORAK) J.F. Bosher. The Gaullist Attack on Canada, 1967B1997 McGill-Queen's University Press. 332. $32.95 humanities 563 With the publication of this book, the historian John Bosher, who has published several studies on modern France, ventures into a new field: the role of France in the rise of the independence movement in Quebec. In fact, his book tries to provide an answer to a question about the independence movement in Quebec which continues to spur debate. Is the rise of the independence movement due to internal causes, or external causes in which the French government was instrumental? The book is divided in three parts. In the first part, Bosher reveals the French role in the rise of the Quebec independence movement in the 1960s. He relates the action of those individuals, whom he calls the `French Mafia,' who sojourned in Quebec and among francophone communities outside Quebec and received orders from the French government. In the second part of his book, the author looks at Ottawa's response to thèFrench Mafia.' He does not hide his surprise that Ottawa was slow to measure the importance of the work undertaken by the members of thèFrench Mafia.' According to Bosher, Marcel Cadieux, then the undersecretary of state for External Affairs, was the only one who understood De Gaulle's action, but he failed to convince the federal government about the French threat. In the last part of the book, the author puts into perspective the action of the French government, which he understands to have been part of an attempt to revive France...