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"Foreign Souls" 1934
- University of Ottawa Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Marie le Franc Translated byMatt Cohen FOREIGM SOULS Born in Sarzeau, Brittany, in 1879, Marie le Franc studied to become a teacher in Vannes, France, and taught in le Morbihan before moving to Montreal in 1906. She taught French language and literature, first at Westmount College and then at McGill University, and over the course of her eighty-five years published eleven books. The first, a book of poetry, Les Voix du cceur et de Vame (Voices of Heart and Soul), appeared in Montreal in 1920; the second, poems closely related to the first, called Les Voix de misere et d'allegresse (VoicesofMiseryandJoy),waspublishedinParisingresse(VoicesofMiseryandJoy),waspublishedinParisin 1923. She was the author of six novels, the first of which, Grand Louis Tinnocent (1927), was awarded the Prix Femina, making her the first writer living in Canada ever to receive this prestigious French award. This was followed by Le Poste surladune in 1928. She returned to France in 1929, and her next three novels were all published in 1930: Grand Louisle revenant, Pecheurs de Gaspesie, and Helier, fils des bois. Her last novel, La Riviere solitaire, appeared in 1957. From 1930 until her death in 1964, Marie le Franc also contributed stories and essays to many international journals, including Mercure de France, Liaison, and Garnets victoriens. Most of her stories were collected in a singlevolume , Visages deMontreal (Faces of Montreal), in 1934, and it is from this collection that "Ames etrangeres," translated by Matt Cohen as "Foreign Souls," has been taken. "Foreign Souls" is a translation of "Ames etrangeres" published in Visages deMontreal (Montreal: Editions du Zodiac, 1934). 122 MARIE LE FRANC I hesitate to talk about you. Your Anglo-Saxon modesty, sentimental paralysis I should say, is starting to affect me. I ought to be afraid of passing judgment on you, based like all human judgment on what we know about ourselves and what we don't know about others. When you are far from me, I feel a curiously detached tenderness for you. When you are here, in the same city as me, I am consumed by the desire to hear your voice on the telephone, because our relations, friendly though they might be, are of this nature. When I know you're back, every ring of the telephone seems more imperative than usual. I rush towards it, towards you, that is: then I try to cast myself into the coldness I want to display towards you, while thinking about what I call, perhaps wrongly, your indifference. Most often what happens is a complete reversal. A few seconds ago, when it came to you, I was absolutely closed and detached. But the vibration of the ringing telephone broke through the barbed wire. Then I am nothing but joy itself, the mirror of your own, and beneath that I don't know what bitter detachment which may even have its magnanimous side. Your superiority over me is that you never premeditate your attitudes. The moment comes when you experience the irresistible desire to hear my voice and make my ear resound with a clear and joyous "Hello!" unveiled by any contrary feeling. You follow your impulse and everything is said. Why should I hold it against you that this desire doesn't come over you the morning you arrive in the city and are totally possessed by the need to get to your hotel, to secure for yourself the room to which you are accustomed, then, skin glowing and linen immaculate, to go down to the dining room, to quickly see if there is someone you know, to exchange greetings with the headwaiter who has recognized you, who respectfully punctuates the news he is telling you with "sir" and doesn't insult you by asking, "Tea or coffee, sir?" This first day is entirely determined in advance. In the evening, sitting at your small table for one, thinking of the innumerable appointments to which you were faithful, of the innumerable transactions you will have undertaken or FOREIGN SOULS 123 [107.23.85.179] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 13:25 GMT) concluded, the future trips you will have initiated on this first day, the already-organized bridge game at which you will soon meet again your former partners, your face will glow with satisfaction in the lamplight. By the time dessert arrives, your whole long body, so erect, will express repose and contentment. It seems there could be no greater happiness than smoking a cigarette while listening to the orchestra play...