Félix-Antoine Savard (1896–1982)

A key text of Quebec literature. Frequently quotes another key text, Marie Chapdelaine, to the effect that “we” have been here for three hundred years and “they”—-“the stranger”—may control the power and the money but we are a people who do not know how to die. The rhetoric is that of an indigenous people; I am reminded of Irish grievance culture. There seems to be no consciousness that this is a situation where one set of colonisers has been superseded by another. The show more natural setting and passing seasons are depicted with great lyricism. A thin plot: the female character, Menaud’s daughter, is collateral damage as the men’s mission means that domestic pleasure must be sacrificed to political struggle, although how this will be expressed is left entirely vague. But one can see the eventual link to blowing up mailboxes. show less