La Scouine

Never have I been so excited about a required read. I'm telling you. I had to check that I hadn't picked the wrong book, because I didn't know it was possible to discover such talented contemporary Quebec authors through a literature class.

Summary

In 1918, 100 years before the publication of La Scouine by Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot, La Scouine by Albert Laberge was published. I have not read it, but this book is considered the first realist novel in Quebec. The author "describes in a crude way the miserable life of the peasants in the Beauharnois region between 1853 and 1896" (La Presse). The humor is dark, and ignorance and violence dominate.

This Scouine is a modern rewriting of this century-old novel, and the story is apparently the same. Urgèle and Mâço already have three children when Mâço gives birth to twins, Caroline and Paulima. But they are far from identical. Caroline has everything going for her, while Paulima is particularly ugly and is constantly mocked. In order to survive and get some positive attention in this deep countryside, she starts to lie. The whole family suffers the vicissitudes of life, ages, and withers.

Impressions

Première chose qui m’a frappée : le roman “rime”. Je ne m’en suis pas rendu compte immédiatement, mais après un moment, je ne voyais que ça. Un exemple :

Son cauchemar n’est pas terminé pour autant. Le surnom que lui a donné François Potvin ce jour-là ne hante pas seulement ses rêves récurrents. Cette interjection vague, surgie d’on ne sait quels abysses du langage, s’est répandue comme une traînée de poudre au village et, à son grand désarroi, il n’est plus un enfant qui ne l’interpelle autrement que par ce sobriquet infamant.

– La Scouine, Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot, chapter VIII

It gives the novel a really catchy pace. When you combine that with the macabre and compelling story, it becomes really hard to put down. You have to tear yourself away from it to go to bed.

And then there is the language. A good Quebecois very marked in the dialogues, delicious to recite aloud.

– Où c’tu vas?

– Là-bas. Pas loin.

– J’peux-ti vnir aec toé?

– Non.

– La Scouine, Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot, p. XIX

Everything about this book is uncomfortable. The characters live in squalor, they don't bathe often, their education is minimal, their morals are questionable, and they've been repressing their sexuality for too long. And yet, there's something about it that makes it comical. So it's not a heavy read. But it does stir us up a bit.

A very nice discovery. I recommend it.