In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • From Mother to Son: The Selected Letters of Marie de l'Incarnation to Claude Martinby Mary Dunn
  • Brian Brazeau
From Mother to Son: The Selected Letters of Marie de l'Incarnation to Claude Martin. Translated with introduction and notes by Mary Dunn. [ American Academy of Religion: Religions in Translation.] (New York: Oxford University Press. 2014. Pp. xii, 237. $74.00. ISBN 978-0-19-938657-4.)

There is a wealth of scholarship treating the seventeenth-century mystic and founder of the Ursuline mission in Quebec, Marie de l'Incarnation. Within this corpus, much of it francophone, Mary Dunn's translation of selected letters by the mission's superior stands out on two levels: first, in its clear and important goal of [End Page 366]bringing alive the early French history in the New World for an English-speaking public; second, the collection is remarkable for its personal rather than hagio-graphic treatment of this monumental figure of New France. Indeed, Dunn's focus is the thirty-year exchange between a mother who abandoned her son at the age of eleven to enter the religious life and the man he has become.

In any epistolary collection, the editor's introduction is paramount in providing a context through which the ensuing correspondence should be understood. Dunn's introductory section offers an excellent framework for comprehension. In it, she creates a coherent, well-researched, and intellectually solid prism through which to understand these letters. For Dunn, Marie's writings are important on several levels. They reveal "much about the early history of New France," construct "an early modern anthropology of the Amerindian," and trace "the spiritual itinerary of one of the most celebrated mystics of the seventeenth century" (p. 32). Beyond these elements, however, it is crucial to attempt a deeper understanding of this figure through the "window Marie's letters provide into the distinctive relationship between an absent mother and her abandoned son. . ." (p. 32).

The pitfalls of such an approach are many. One could easily fall into an anachronistic vision which would superimpose our contemporary, ideally fusional mother/son relationship upon seventeenth-century France. It would be facile to judge the mother as we think she should be, rather than in her early-modern subjectivity. Dunn deftly avoids such simplification through a complex discussion of parental roles at the time while simultaneously allowing for sentimentality between mother and son. The reader learns much from this edition about the history of New France, but is also drawn in by a fascinating family journey. Indeed, we follow the relationship between Claude and his mother from one of absent parent and abandoned son, to spiritual advisor and young man entering the Benedictine order, and finally to a reversal of roles with Marie seeking spiritual and material aid from her quite influential ordained progeny. Thus, in 1640, soon after her arrival in New France, we see Marie admonishing her son from afar: "It is time that you know yourself. You are old enough for that. You were helped mightily during your schooldays—now it's up to you to push yourself" (p. 41). As the relationship progresses, it becomes one of a more spiritual and less filial bond, such as in 1653 when she rejoices, "I render very humble thanks to His Goodness for the attraction that he is giving you for the mystical life" (p. 121). Finally, as equals, Marie addresses her religious offspring in 1667, asking him to pray for her eternal peace: "[. . .] our good God moved me to do so, in order to have recourse to you for the security of my soul's affairs" (p. 199).

The maternal relationship's evolution is fascinatingly drawn upon the backdrop of the rigors of colonial life, a personal spiritual voyage, and the history of seventeenth-century mysticism. In the midst of these captivating details, the reader at times shares the author's frustration with the editorial history of Marie's correspondence, as the letters were anthologized and heavily edited by Claude himself. The distance between the modern reader and Marie's original words is thereby [End Page 367]increased. This fact notwithstanding, Dunn has made an important contribution to English-language...

pdf

Share