Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
urban and natural space for psychological purposes - which takes on a
historical cast in other descriptive passages, such as 'l'ébauche de la
ville plantée dans la sauvagerie de la terre' (95; the sketch of a city
planted in the wildness of the earth [74]) - is also a major component of
Leclerc's perception of the urban setting: 'À Québec l'horizon de la
montagne n'est jamais très loin, une jolie montagne bleue, rarement
sombre, elle fait partie intégrante du paysage au même titre que le
fleuve.' (62; In Quebec City, the mountains are always on the horizon,
close by, blue, sunlit, they are as typical of the landscape as is the River
[62].) This combination of a cultural place set against natural space
sounds a familiar note in Quebec landscape representation and shows
that Leclerc is as faithful to his heritage through his compositional tech-
nique as through his choice of subject. Indeed, in 2004-5 Leclerc won
the prestigious 'Art et Nature' competition in Baie-Saint-Paul, the long-
standing artistic capital of Charlevoix, and in fact in 2007, the village
was named the 'Capitale Culturelle du Canada.' Leclerc thus assumes
his place in an illustrious lineage of artists who have resided or worked
extensively in Baie-Saint-Paul, including Gagnon, Richard, Brymner,
Cullen, Lemieux, Savard, Roy, and Hébert herself, to mention only
those featured so far in the present book.
To return, on the other hand, to the contrasting avoidance of herit-
age practised by Flora Fontanges, Anne Hébert has not, of course,
brought her main character back to her city of origins in order to allow
her to repel them, and despite Flora's resolutions, as she roams the
city with Raphaël and other friends of Maud, she inevitably encounters
the dreaded former mansion of the 'false' grandmother and bits of the
memories it houses:
Ce qui devait arriver, arrive à l'instant même. Voici l'Esplanade, la façade
grise, les fenêtres qu'on a peintes en bleu, du 45 de la rue d'Auteuil.
Aucune vie ancienne ne peut sans doute persister à l'intérieur. On pour-
rait cogner avec un doigt sur la pierre. Le vide seul. L'écho du vide. Le
creux de la pierre. Le passé changé en caillou. Nulle grande vieille femme
en noir ne risque d'apparaître à la fenêtre et de soulever un rideau de gui-
pure pour épier Flora Fontanges, la montrer du doigt. Nulle vieille voix
sèche ne peut s'échapper de la fenêtre et prononcer l'arrêt de mort d'une
petite fille rescapée de l'hospice Saint-Louis: -Vous n'en ferez jamais une
lady. Flora Fontanges se dit qu'il n'y a pas pire sourde que celle qui ne veut
pas entendre. [30; At that very moment the inevitable occurs. Here is the
Esplanade, and the grey façade, the window-frames now painted blue, of
 
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