Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It is in Paris where, paradoxically, Pierre rediscovers his primitive
self, along with the call of the wilderness: 'Au bonheur étrange qui
saisit son cœur, il comprit combien il s'était ennuyé du vent du Nord,
des poudreries, des tourments de la tempête et de la nature.' (152; By
the strange happiness that took hold of his heart, he understood how
much he had missed the wind of the North, the blowing snow, the tem-
pestuousness of the storm and of nature [163].) If such discoveries
about nature occur in the bastion of culture, it is because Pierre realizes
that the secrets of both primitive self and wilderness lie not without but
In one of the most memorable and moving passages in all of French-
Canadian literature, Pierre finally achieves the ultimate encounter -
with himself:
Ce qu'il peignit avec un tel acharnement à cette époque, c'était la partie
éloignée, naïve et jeune de sa vie. Elle lui revenait, lui était entière resti-
tuée. Ou plutôt il avait l'impression de se rencontrer lui-même, tel qu'il
avait été, voyageant avec confiance vers l'avenir. Descendant vers le passé,
il se croisait allant de l'avant. Et les deux hommes un instant semblaient
s'arrêter au bord d'une rivière pour se consulter, échanger des nouvelles
... Et alors Pierre eut l'ambition de résumer tout ce qui était de sa vie. Ne
serait-ce pas là l'avantage de l'âge? Pressé, bousculé par le temps, parvenir
à tout dire en quelques mots? Un dernier mot définitif, un tableau final: ce
rêve le tenait. [154; What he was painting with such haste during those
wearying days was the remote, artless, youthful portion of his life. It
would come back to him, reconstituted in every detail. Or rather he had
the impression of encountering his own self, as he had once been, jour-
neying confidently toward the future. Plunging into the past, he crossed
paths with himself headed forward. And it would seem to him that the
two men stopped for an instant along the shore of some river to consult
with each other and exchange news ... And that was when Pierre first had
the ambition to recapitulate the whole story of his life. Was not this preci-
sely the advantage of age? Pushed on, jostled by time, to succeed in saying
everything in a few words? A last definitive word, a final picture: this
dream enthralled him. (165)]
Pierre's recuperation in its totality of time lost ('la partie éloignée de sa
vie ... entière restituée') recalls Proust's 'madeleine' episode, where all of
Combray emerges from a cup of tea. Here, however, it is the paintings of
past scenes that resurrect the image of the artist's past self, who ascends
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