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Loading... Les Belles Soeurs (Revised) (edition 1992)by Michel Tremblay
Work InformationLes Belles Soeurs by Michel Tremblay
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This is a translation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-soeurs into Scots, which I picked up for the sheer randomness of it. My rating is more for the play than for the language -- I found it difficult to wrap my head around people with very Quebecois names (Angéline, Thérèse, Germaine) speaking like they lived in the tenement flats of Glasgow. But the story is good and the women are all lively characters. It seems like it would be a powerful play to see on stage. Now I want to read it in the original French. A play between book covers rarely measure-up to the “live happening” itself. This is particularly evident with “Les Belles Soeurs” as one must hear the vivid rhythmic lamentations recited by the sisters, in unison without expression, like a requiem for the lost hope of a meaningful life, to feel their dark despair and appreciate the innovative signature of the author. Nonetheless, while waiting for an opportunity to see the play, the written word also succeeds in conveying the forceful message. To be read in the original Quebecois slang version if at all possible. no reviews | add a review
Three of this leading gay French-Canadian writer's best plays: The Guid Sisters, Manon/Sandra and Albertine in Five Times. No library descriptions found. |
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This will probably be a baffling play for people used to European French rather than Quebec French. Tremblay was one of the first playwrights to use Quebec joual in his dialogue, and it can be almost impenetrable in print. I found it useful to read aloud, because he does write fairly phonetically.
What I found the most intimidating was the *walls* of text characters would have for their lines—that must have been hard work to memorize and was very difficult for me to read without losing my place at least once. The shorter bits of dialogue were easier to follow. ( )