From Solitude to Solidarity: La montagne secrète - Literature and Painting in Quebec: From Imagery to Identity - page 237

must be the renowned 'Homme-au-crayon-magique' (Man-of-the-
Magic-Pencil); the reader, whose sign-reading skills are enhanced by
sharing the Amerindian's perspective, has by now recognized Pierre,
who reassumes the novel's vantage point, bringing it back to earth. 12
The painter still seeks, often misses, but occasionally finds, his place
within the world through art: 'lui-même avait été en ces jours excep-
tionnels où l'homme, qui se surpasse et se dépasse, se sent pourtant, ces
jours-là seulement, lui-même' (78; he himself had dwelt in those rare
days when a man, while surpassing and outdoing his own nature, yet
feels that only on such days is he really himself [79]). Identity ('lui-
même avait été … lui-même') is seen as a matter of encounter, the key
term for the second part of the novel as Pierre encounters nature, art,
himself, and others.
The first encounter is with the secret mountain, whose sudden ap-
pearance at the end of chapter eleven is startling: 'Pierre voyait grandir
devant lui une tache lumineuse. Il fit quelques pas encore, tourna le
flanc sombre du rocher. Devant lui se dressait une haute montagne
isolée que le soleil rouge embrasait et faisait brûler comme un grand
feu clair. Pierre, d'un coup d'épaule, se débarrassa du canot, se défit de
son sac, se laissa lui-même tomber comme à genoux devant la mon-
tagne.' (79; Pierre saw a luminous spot grow larger before his eyes. He
took a few more steps, went around the shaded flank of the rocky
promontory. Before him towered a high and solitary mountain that
glowed in the red sunlight like a great pillar of fire. With a toss of
his shoulder Pierre freed himself of the canoe, let his packsack slip from
his shoulders, and himself slipped to his knees as though in reverence
for the mountain [80-1].) The personal viewpoint ('Pierre voyait'), the
size ('grandir'), the light ('une tache lumineuse'), the isolation ('isolée'),
and the colour ('rouge') accentuated by a visual simile ('comme un
grand feu clair') serve to set off this apparition, which Pierre further
elevates by a gesture of worship ('à genoux'). 13
The mountain, both in nature and on canvas, dominates the second
part of the novel, as in the lengthy description at the beginning of the
following chapter:
Elle était fière incomparablement, et incomparablement seule. Faite pour
plaire à un œil d'artiste en ses plans, ses dimensions, ses couleurs. Et aussi
choisit-elle pour se montrer l'heure la plus glorieuse. À sa base, nourrie
par un sol meilleur à cause sans doute des alluvions et de l'eau toute pro-
che, elle portait une ceinture de petits bouleaux fragiles, qui frémissaient