Postmodernism, and the Quebec Novel by Janet M. Peterson, and: Distinctly Narcissistic: Diary Fiction in Quebec by Valerie Raoul

Abstract

brought about by the fierce unwillingness of her sister— herself already dead— to suffer her successor’s appropriation of her clothes, symbolic of her wedded love, is certainly strange and horrible enough: “on her blood­ less brow and cheeks there glowed the marks of ten hideous wounds from the vengeful ghostly hands.” (35) But putting aside such occasional lapses in style, no one should quibble with the overall success of the achievement here. Martin and Ober are to be commended for clarifying our focus on this early stage of James’s career. For what they have succeeded in highlighting in their book is the gathering and shaping of those forces of greatness that were soon to make their presence felt. Held captive though these forces were in a number of these early — and often ignored — tales, they would struggle to free themselves, throughout James’s apprenticeship, till at last they could stride forward into the world’s acclaim. As for the production of the book, let me just say that it is in keeping with the photograph of James that appears on the book jacket. The portrait is of James as a young man, at Newport circa 1863; like the book itself, it is both attractive and elegant. NOTES 1 Leon Edel, The Complete Tales of Henry James (Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lip­ pincott, 1962), 4:7. 2 Edel, The Conquest of London: 1870-1883 (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1962), 88. ED Kleim an / University of Manitoba Janet M. Peterson, Postmodernism and the Quebec Novel, trans. David Homel and Charles Phillips (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994). viii, 167. $35.00 cloth, $14.95 paper. Valerie Raoul, Distinctly Narcissistic: Diary Fiction in Quebec (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993). vi, 307. Postmodernism and the Quebec Novel is a translation of Janet M. Paterson’s Moments postmodernes dans le roman québécois, which was first published in 1990 by Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa. The only new material added to the English version is a chapter on Nicole Brossard’s novel, Mauve Desert {Le Désert mauve). This work certainly deserves translation, but the fact that only two of the six Quebec novels that are analyzed exist in English translation raises the question of its ultimate usefulness to readers 351 who do not understand French. That reservation aside, Paterson’s book is, nevertheless, a vital voice in any discussion of postmodernism. Significantly, the book opens and concludes with questions rather than statements. In between “What is postmodernism?” (3), and “Finally, how long will the notion of postmodernism serve as a heuristic tool to probe the temper of our times within the heterogeneous landscape of the contemporary novel?” (130), Paterson constantly prods the reader to step into uncharted territory at the same time that she attempts to explain where we have just been. Almost every section of every chapter revolves as much around ques­ tions as it does around conclusions. In true postmodern fashion, Paterson is at once the author and reader of her own text. Not only does this book present new and useful insights into the question of postmodernism in the Quebec novel, but it does so in a deliberate and organized manner. This is no trivial observation; I find that too many literary/theory texts are unnecessarily complex in their presentation of ideas. A detailed discussion of the forms and discourses of self-representation lead into an analysis of Hubert Aquin’s Blackout ( Trou de Mémoire). Following this, each chapter presents an introduction to and overview of a specific aspect of postmodernism, and then applies it to a particular Quebec novel. In “History on Trial: La Maison Trestler,” Paterson draws on the writings of Paul Veyne and Michel de Certeau to analyze “the legitimation of History as totalizing and scientific authentic narrative” (54). She then demonstrates how Ouellette-Michalska’s novel highlights the ambiguity inherent in the word “histoire” in which the conflict between historical narrative as scientific discourse and as simple narration forces the reader to rethink the boundaries between fact and fiction. The questioning of accepted boundaries is then applied to genre in “Intertextuality in Le Semestre.” Here, Bessette’s dis...