“Youse forgettin’ de w.”
“Naw, dat’s sometin’ else entirely.”
“Well, youse can all say wot you will, you ask me it’s terrible complicated. We’d be better off stickin’ to just plain French.”
“Or L’Anglais . . .”
“You mean we wouldn’t be learnin’ no French at all?”
“If folks wants it dat way, à cause pas?”
“Saint-Simonaque!”
510.41.12
Lives of the Saints
A writer, trained as a philosopher and professor of the history of medicine, Louise L. Lambrichs published an article entitled “L’aventure de la paternité (The Adventure of Paternity)” in another special issue of the Nouvel Observateur, this one on the subject of fatherhood. “Above all let us not forget that, whether we like it or not, for us the question of the roll of the father is inscribed in the context of a society marked by the Freudian revolution — one of Freud’s major contributions having been to put the accent on the dysfunctions of the paternal role as the origin of neuroses.” Cited and translated without permission.
511.11.5
Appropriations
(Most astonishing is the fact that) Derrick de Kerckhove stayed for a week in Shippagan at the turn of the millennium, where he lectured a group of young Acadians and other francophones on the future impact of cutting-edge technologies. (His lectures were filmed and broadcast on a regional cable channel.)
513.131.5
Parenthesi(e)s
“On de radio dis mornin’, a fellow was sayin’ dat de opposite of politics is fatalism.”
“Wah?”
. . .
“Dat’s wonderful odd. I’d a tawt it’d be a miracle.”
. . .
“No?”
“Are ya sayin’ dat a miracle’s de opposite of politics?”
“?”
“Ya, dat makes sense, I suppose.”
“Den, a ting could be de opposite of more’n one udder ting? Like, fatalism could be de opposite of a miracle and also de opposite of politics?”
“Dat’re already opposites of each udder au depart.
“Still, dat’s sometin’ weird, don’t ya tink?”
“Der’s a whole lot of tings dat’r weird.”
514.64.7
Opposites
On the other hand, the only title in “La Bibliothèque idéale des sciences humaines” to be listed in more than one discipline is La Société contre l’État (Society Against the State) by Pierre Clastres, who is deemed worthy of being read not only as anthropology, but also as political science. The book attempts to show that the State compels humans to abandon their leisure activities.
515.61.8
Social Sciences
“De way I see’s it, not only opposites attract. Constraints attract each udder as well.”
516.64.3
Opposites
Identity amnesia is a relatively rare pathology, which occurs more frequently in men. It consists in forgetting all those references essential to an individual’s ability to identify himself or to be identified. This particular form of amnesia is not accompanied by depersonalization: the individual maintains all his abilities, except that he experiences neither vertigo nor anxiety faced with this lack of any affiliation. Although the absence of anxiety is usually accompanied by an illness or disability, in some cases it takes other forms, in particular that of phobic neuroses (avoidance behaviour) or obsessional neuroses (the need to erase all traces of oneself). But identity amnesia is more a kind of moral exchange between an individual and his conscience than a disease per se.
517.74.2
Hans
It was one in the morning by the time the crowd at the Babar began to disperse. Josse, Lisa-M., and Carmen took a deep breath.
“Josse, girl, why don’t ya stay wid us tonight? We can order a pizza and play some cards. It’s been a terrible long time since we done dat.”
Lisa-M. chimed in:
“Why not sleep over at our place! Don’t look like Pomme over der’ll be goin’ to bed tonight, or else, he’ll be crashin’ on de couch. If you don’t mind sharin’ me bed . . .”
Josse was tempted, especially since she was off for the next three days:
“Sure! Dat’s a right proper idea. I was wonderin’ how I’s goin’ to blow off dese next tree days!”
The three waitresses were re-energized somewhat by the idea of relaxing together after a long busy evening. Josse looked at her watch:
“Now, if dey could just take demselves off to de Triangle . . .”
Lisa-M. could not imagine working this late, night after night:
“Specially when der’re just a couple o’ dem left over der log-loaded . . .”
“Mostly we doesn’t work dis late more’n twice in a week. Unless you trade shifts wid somebody. Some likes to work late on account of yer likely to get more tips.”
“I tot youse divides it all up equal.”
518.18.11
A Place for Everyone
“Sure, but dose dat works right up to closin’ gets a bonus on account of dey clean up after, and dat’s only fair. Carmen figured it all out. You can tell she’s good at it, on account of nobody’s complainin’.”
Reread The Skin of Culture by de Kerckhove to see if it still holds water.
519.56.5
Pilgrimages
Carmen was surprised by Terry’s enthusiasm over what the psychologist Myriam had said about paternity.
“Well, seems to me, you already do all dat . . .”
“You tink? Sometimes I tawt I was bein’ maybe, like, too picky . . .”
“Exigeant?”
Terry had used the English word picky.
“Dat’s it. Exigeant. Wid Étienne especially. Maybe on account of ee’s older. Or maybe on account of ee’s a boy. Me boy.”
“Well sure, we want him to be learnin’ . . .”
. . .
. . .
“Do you know ’er, Myriam?”
“I know who she is. She comes by from time to time.”
“She seems awful smart.”
“I tink she’s goin’ wid Rodge. I saw de two o’ dem togedder a couple o’ times.
“Dat’s right, ee’s de one dat introduced us. Only, ee never said she was ’is girl. An’ it didn’t feel dat way.”
“Awh, well, maybe not den.”
520.13.4
Paternity
What of Hans, who got rid of almost all his material possessions and who’s even considering getting rid of his identity papers? Is Hans in the initial stages of identity amnesia?
521.74.1
Hans
One of the Babar’s last customers would have liked to prolong the evening:
“Aw, why not come along wid us? Me an’ me chum ’ere ’ave bin lookin’ a long time fer some nice girls like youse . . .”
Josse enjoyed teasing males suffering from withdrawal:
“Naw, we’ve an all-girls party tonight. Too bad.”
“An all-girls party? Where?”
“Well now, you’re not tinkin’ we’d go an’ tell you dat, are you?
“Only, me pal here . . .”
The friend stepped forward and tugged on his pal’s sleeve:
“Yer ex-pal if you keeps on like ya are. Come on wid ya. Dey got better tings to do dan listen to yer yammerin’.”
“Naw, but! Look at ’em, dey’s right pretty all de same, are dey not?”
His friend agreed, but he was beginning to feel embarrassed:
“Come on, den, we’re off.”
And with that, he draped his drunken friend’s arm around his neck and dragged him toward the exit.
Josse sought to reassure him:
“No cause to worry on it. We seen worse!”
But, before she locked the door behind them, Josse couldn’t resist extending a branch to the more sober of the two:
“Youse come back . . . some udder time, I mean.”
The young man turned back with a gentle smile.
“Fer sure.”
522.18.12
A Place for Everyone
Obsessional neurosis and identity obsession have several points in common: in addition to a clear preference for the male psyche, they are both related to issues of morality, and are essentially a reaction to the symbolic of the father and filiation. Interesting fact, there is no trace of obsessional neurosis in texts preceding the advent of the Judeo-Christian religion, contrary to hysteria, for example, which was already well documented 2,000 years before Jesus Christ.
523.74.3
Hans
“Marianne, come ’ere, girl, and finish gettin’ dressed!”
The little one was particularly mischievous that morning, and Terry did not have time to run after her.
“Marianne! I’m countin’ to five . . .”
The children knew that their tricks were doomed once Terry began counting.
“One . . .”
It was early yet; Marianne knew there was still plenty of time.
“Two . . .”
Her room was within easy reach.
“Three . . .”
From Terry’s tone it was clear there would be no four-and-a-half.
“Four . . .”
Marianne raced toward her room. Terry waited until she was almost at the door to announce the next number.
“Five!”
Watching her, Terry thought he might have a future Olympian on his hands.
“Yer a proper devil, girl, but at least you run fast. May save yer life some day. Here now, put dis on.”
Marianne let loose a short burst of laughter; then, giggling, she pulled the underpants over her head.
524.13.12
Paternity
To err. A statistical analysis of the first letter of names of some 550 authors of “The Ideal Library of the Social Sciences” shows once again that the fiwst few letters of the alphABET ACCOUNT FOR THE LAgest number of autors, in particulqr the b . . . (writing time interrupted by reason of drowsiness).
525.70.10
Errors
“Dad, how come we don’t pray?”
Terry was in the doorway, on his way to work.
“Pray like you do wid Granny Thibodeau, you mean?”
“Uncle Étienne asked me if I pray.”
“Did ’e now?”
“Do I got a godfawder?”
“A godfawder? Well, no, you don’t have a godfawder.”
Terry tried to be as gentle as possible in stating this fact, which suddenly struck him as hard.
“So den, dat means I have a godmudder?”
“No, you don’t have a godmudder neither.”
. . .
. . .
“Do you have one?”
Terry could not deny it:
“Yeah. Me godfawder’s old Arthur. You know, ee’s de one from time to time fixes up old cars wid yer granddad.”
Étienne knew who he was. An old, thin man who smoked a pipe.
“An’ his wife Émerentienne, well she was me godmudder, only she’s dead now. She was already dead when you were born.”
. . .
“At Christmas time an’ on me birthdays, dey always gave me a present. Most times ’twas a hockey stick. One time, dey gave me a little electric train. Boy oh boy, did I play wid dat train!”
526.129.11
Fantasies
Unlike the obsessional neurotic, an individual experiencing identity amnesia does not attempt to hide his ploy, nor to erase his traces. He has simply abandoned the place assigned to him by his identity. The choice of the word experiencing is therefore not arbitrary, since the individual is not actually suffering.
527.74.4
Hans
Antoinette lay down the Acadian word zire, meaning “disgust” or “sharooshed.” It did not even occur to The Cripple to contest it.
Ten times 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.
Antoinette entered the number 24 in the little box, for a total of 149 in two turns.
528.28.6
A Couple’s Life
Eventually, by virtue of dispensations, the Catholic Church ended up allowing unions between first cousins, as well as sororat and levirate marriages. Sororat marriage compelled a young woman to marry her older sister’s widower. The levirate obliged a man to marry his brother’s widow if there was no male descendant. In many countries, the Church left it to the State to legislate consanguinity in marriage. In general, laws proscribed marriage between direct relations and between brothers and sisters. The same prohibition existed against someone marrying the children of his or her wife or husband. This applies in the case of adopted children, as well as children of the same father or mother, which explains the discomfort, not to say scandal, sparked by the relationship between the filmmaker Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, with whom Allen had been in a common-law marriage for many years.
529.65.12
Boy Cousins, Girl Cousins
“Sõ12 I ended up recitin’ de Our Fawder for ’im. I was right proud I remembered it.”
Carmen approved:
“It’s more down to earth dan de udders.”
“Down to earth . . . I like dat.”
Carmen did not worry too much over every little phase the children went through:
“Most likely, ee’s just curious. I doubt very much he really wants to pray.”
“Dey say dat children go troo mystic periods.”
“Mystic?”
Terry wasn’t sure of the exact definition of the word, so he preferred not to risk explaining it to Carmen.
“Is dat sometin’ Myriam said, den?”
“Naw, it’s in a book downstairs.”
“Awh.”
“I’m tinkin’ ee’d like to ’ave a godfawder, doh12. ’Course, first we’d ’ave to baptise ’im. I suppose.”
“An’ you an’ I’d ’ave to get married.”
“Go on? Is dat obligatory?”
. . .
. . .
“Well, my mudder wouldn’t mind, dat’s for sure.”
“Mine as well, even doh she won’t say nuttin’ about it.”
530.13.8
Paternity
In fact, the identity amnesiac would prefer to be left entirely alone. His own name is a source of anxiety to him; he would like to rid himself of all filial constraints and obligations. He dreams of a place without conditions and, since such a place does not exist, he falls back on forgetting, which allows him to escape, to absent himself, to extricate himself completely from the field of play.
531.74.5
Hans
“Me? It’s de idea of both me knees gettin’ crushed betwixt two parked cars. Say de brakes was to fail or some such ting. Just tinkin’ about it, I starts to hurt.”
532.137.1
Fears
The presence of a hidden defect in a novel is particularly difficult to overcome. It’s the sort of ambiguity to which an author does not aspire. Because the discovery of an error in a book undermines the reading experience. The reader is indisposed, he or she balks at the thought of pursuing a less than perfect work to its end.
533.89.3
Irritants
Blissful white. Whitewash, zinc
white, silver white. White lead. White O. White meat, whiting powder. Whiter than white. So white is black and black is white? White face. Mrs. White with a lead pipe. A lot of folks named LeBlanc. Whiteout. A little white lie.
535.83.2
Bliss and Colours
Occasionally during the evening, the idea that his son might be undergoing a mystic phase occurred to Terry.
“If I’d bin on de ball, I’d shown ’im how to make de sign of de cross. I never tawt of it. ’Twould be sometin’ easy to learn.”
“Well, it’s not too late now, is it? Wot’s to stop you showin’ ’im?”
“Dat’s true enough! Jeez, it’s nice to live wid somebody dat’s always tinkin’ . . .”
536.124.1
Religion
The virtues that Comte-Sponville examined are consistent with the general flux of the four cardinal virtues of Christianity: courage, justice, prudence, and temperance; not to be confused with Christianity’s three theological virtues, which are faith, hope, and charity.
537.66.12
The Virtues
“Are you Pomme?”
“Pomme, dat’s me!”
The young man took my extended hand quite naturally. We had crossed paths from time to time.
“So, no exhibition on right now?”
“Dis ’ere’s a micro-exhibition. You gotta get right up close to de wall to see it.”
At first I thought he was joking; I tried briefly to decipher his statement. Then Pomme said he had to leave for 10 minutes or so.
“No problem, I’m in no hurry.”
While I waited for him, I walked back and forth a bit in the room.
. . .
I thought I heard music, and then, nothing.
. . .
Then again, yes, music.
. . .
Something shiny on the floor in the corner caught my eye. I moved closer.
!
Up close, I saw nothing. The shining was gone. Only a bit of orange wire lay abandoned on the floor. But looking more closely, I realized the wire ran into the wall a few centimetres above the floor.
For Sure Page 22
