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on se tourne pour l’épanouissement du couple. [...] Tous les couples sont donc mixtes, mais il y en a qui le sont plus que d’autres” (116). Pourtant, par son rythme lent, ses narrations détaillées, cette histoire parfois décousue a du mal à décoller. Malgré les sujets riches et en dépit d’une écriture limpide et classique qui ne manque pas d’élégance en reprenant certains aspects de l’oralité africaine, on a du mal à s’attacher aux personnages; “l’Africaine” nous laisse sur notre faim; les quelques dialogues sont un peu artificiels; le lecteur se trouve pris dans les détours d’histoires différentes ne formant pas nécessairement un tout cohérent. Mais peut-être est-ce justement ce qu’Ébodé a voulu nous faire ressentir: comment rendre compte de la désunion? Le propre d’une histoire de séparation, de surcroît narrée par un fils, serait de prolonger, digresser, avancer des explications, revenir en arrière, pour finalement souligner les limites de la compréhension. Davidson College (NC) Catherine Slawy-Sutton HOULD, FERNAND J. Les cavaleurs. Montréal: Lévesque, 2012. ISBN 978-2-923844-92-3. Pp. 108. $20 Can. What is the price of pleasure? In this work of fiction written by an eightyfour -year old author, six womanizers have adventures that lead to both pleasure and pain. When Alexis, a forty-year-old serious and solitary character, is invited to a conference in Helsinki, he meets Annika. Neither understands the words of the other, but their gestures speak volumes. However, his glorious night of ecstasy lands him in prison: “Le désir [...] souvent, c’est la recherche de petits bonheurs, la simple envie de vivre quelque chose de fort avec quelqu’un d’autre” (18). Christophe, an actor and teacher at the Conservatory who lives in Quebec becomes smitten with the mysterious and timid Parisian Delphine. His fling with her leads them to New York City, but Delphine is not easy to conquer. When she returns to Paris and Christophe visits, she makes him examine his motives for pursuing her. As in the case of Alexis, Christophe’s wanderings leave him with a bitter taste: “L’amour, l’amour, qu’est-ce vraiment? Est-ce qu’on ne le confond pas trop souvent avec le désir?” (47). This is Romain, a specialist at Quebec’s University Hospital, yet another good soul in search of happiness and wishing to define love, an elusive notion which has escaped his grasp since adolescence. His adventure with Bérangère is an epistolary relationship, although they meet on and off through the years, but it is unfulfilled physically. Hould quotes Voltaire, Proust, Bracq, Wilde, and more. His mature male characters are not sure what they are seeking in the women they meet; they cannot hold on to their conquests. The women in Hould’s world seem like chimera, they have secrets that the “cavaleurs” are unable or unwilling to fathom. Hould, however, is quite able to detail their trysts at dance clubs or their dinners in fancy venues or small getaways. The protagonists are educated, clean-living, and connected for the most part with some form of academia or the arts; the women are often somewhat younger, shrouded in aura and enigma. “On dit qu’il y a dans le regard d’une femme plus jeune que soi cette lueur qui apporte un goût renouvelé à la vie” (65). Christian, the male of Hould’s fourth short story, is no exception to the author’s rule. He is fifty, works for the Canadian government in Montreal, and meets Christine, an attractive, frank, natural, and married woman. Pleasure Reviews 1289 always brings its pain, this time physical suffering, as Christian’s long-anticipated sexual encounter ends in near cardiac arrest for him. Théodore, music critic in Quebec, meets Judith, a married Jewish Parisian violinist. He will follow her back to Paris; in this instance, Judith’s husband’s intervention prevents Théodore’s plan from coming to fruition. Sébastien, the final “cavaleur” holds a position in the external affairs ministry, and is sent from Ottawa to the...

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