Dimension lapsisée Revised Subjectivity in Québécois Women’s Narratives Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie der Philosophischen Fakultäten I und II der Universität des Saarlandes vorgelegt von Mag.ª Elisabeth A. Tutschek aus Waidhofen an der Ybbs, Österreich Saarbrücken, 2015 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ralf Bogner Berichterstatter/innen: Prof.in Dr.in Astrid Fellner, Universität des Saarlandes Prof. Dr. Robert Schwartzwald, Université de Montréal 19. Dezember 2014 ii For my uncle, Peter iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For intellectual support: Astrid M. Fellner, Robert Schwartzwald; Nicole Brossard, Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Nathanaël, Gail Scott; Gilles Dupuis, Doris Eibl, Lucie Hotte, David Leahy, Andrea Oberhuber, François Paré, Trish Salah, Sherry Simon, Barbara Thériault, Christoph Vatter; (ÉRILAQ) Domenic A. Beneventi, Catherine Leclerc, Gillian Lane-Mercier, Lianne Moyes; (Séminare de rédaction, Études anglaises UdeM) Andrea Beverly, Richard Cassidy, Sarah Henzi, Alexia Moyer. For moral and motivational support: Doris Eibl, Elise Moser, Nathanaël, Andrea Oberhuber, Trish Salah; (CCEAE) Philippe Despoix, Laurence McFalls, Barbara Thériault, Till Van Rahden; Agnes, Alexandre, Andrea, Anik, Anna, Antoine, Bernhard, Birgit, Christoph, Elisabeth, Eric, François, Geneviève, Gundi, Isabelle, Joon, Julie, Jürgen, Karin, Katharina, Luana, Lutz, Maïka, Marie-Claude, Marie-Hélène, Maripierre, Martin, Melanie, Michel, Natalie, Nicole, Peter, Richard, Sarah, Stéphanie, Sylvie, Tibo, Ursula, Wolfgang, Yves NIng. For financial support: KWA/Brief Scientific Stays Abroad (Travel grant, University of Vienna 2007), Siegfried Ludwig-Fonds (Research Grant, Government of Lower Austria 2007), Stiftung für Kanadastudien (GKS- Promotionsstipendium vom Deutschen Stiftungsverband 2008), CRILCQ (Bourse Jean-Cléo Godin 2009/10); Mag. Günther and Anna Tutschek. Merci. iv Aimez les livres […] car vous ne savez par quel hasard, au tournant d’une phrase votre vie s’en trouvera changée. (Le désert mauve 122) “I was going to vote yes. I really was. I want it to happen if it’s going to happen, but…” […] “But essentially you believe in separatism.” “I believe in sovereignty, Eve. There’s a big difference for me.” (Bottle Rocket Hearts 72) v Between two onslaughts of words, between two imposing systematic presences, the pleasure of the text is always possible, not as a respite, but as the incongruous – dissociated – passage from another language, like the exercise of a different physiology. (Barthes 1975: 30) I think probably everything is text. Except sex maybe. (Gail Scott in conversation with Corey Frost, 1999) vi NOTE ON TRANSLATION, STYLE, AND TERMINOLOGY This dissertation features quotes from references in English, French, and German. French citations are inserted into the text in their original versions. Their translations are provided in footnotes and in case they are my own, they are indicated as such. German quotes are inserted into the main text in translation with reference to their source; the originals are given in footnotes. Any disruptions of the reading flow caused by the insertion of French quotes into the English text are intended. This practice translates content into form and simulates the situation of dimension lapsisée. The effects of non- linearity it creates furthermore highlight how I approach my comparative analysis and stage Québécois texts in this thesis. My own use of an accent aigu in the spelling of ‘Montréal’ (also: ‘Québec,’ ‘Québécois’) symbolises the transcultural approach this thesis discusses. Accordingly, toponyms and francophone realities of the city are reiterated in French. In quotes, I stick to naming and spelling of the source; hence the alternations between Montréal and ‘Montreal.’ vii DIMENSION LAPSISÉE viii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ IV NOTE ON TRANSLATION, STYLE, AND TERMINOLOGY .......................................... VII CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... IX PREAMBLE: FROM ‘THE QUEEN ELIZABETH’ TO LE REINE ELIZABETH ................ 1 1. INTRODUCTION: THEORIZING NEW SPACES – DIMENSION LAPSISÉE ........ 10 1.1. OVERVIEW OF SECTION ONE ............................................................................. 23 1.2. OVERVIEW OF SECTION TWO ............................................................................ 28 2. HISTORIES OF THE CULTURAL DIVIDE ............................................................. 33 2.1. DEFINING SPACES: BORDERLANDS, HYBRIDITY, AND THE CONTACT ZONE ............................................................................... 35 2.2. QUÉBEC/CANADA: POST-COLONIALISM AND THE NOTION OF ‘NATION’ ...... 50 2.3. TOWARD UNDERSTANDING MONTRÉAL AS A POST/MODERN CITY .............. 55 2.4. TRANSLATING SPACES: THE DELUSIONS OF MONTRÉAL .............................. 59 2.5. QUEERING SPACES: LINGUISTIC ENCOUNTERS AND PERFORMATIVITY ...... 66 2.6. ‘O CANADA’: ENGLISH, A MINORITY LANGUAGE IN QUÉBEC ......................... 68 2.7. ‘PRENONS UNE MARCHE’: QUÉBÉCOIS, A NORTH-AMERICAN CODE ........... 75 2.8. NOUVELLES/NOVELS FROM THE BORDER ....................................................... 80 3. THE URBAN BODY IN FRENCH KISS AND PAPER CITY .................................. 91 3.1 MAPPING CULTURAL TOPOGRAPHIES ............................................................ 104 3.2 PERFORMING THE BODY AND THE CITY ......................................................... 111 3.3 REMAPPING THE BODY AND THE CITY ............................................................ 116 3.4 FLÂNERIES IN TRANSLATION ............................................................................ 125 4. SUBJECTS IN TRANSLATION: LE DÉSERT MAUVE AND BOTTLE ROCKET HEARTS ................................................................................ 133 5. FLÂNERIES IN BORDERLANDS: MAIN BRIDES AND LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CRIMINALS ................................................................ 173 5.1 PERFORMING TRANSLATION ........................................................................... 185 5.2 REVISING BORDERLANDS ................................................................................. 200 5.3 INTERTEXTUAL FLÂNERIES ............................................................................... 212 6. PERFORMING THE CITY IN MY PARIS AND THE SORROW AND THE FAST OF IT ................................................................ 222 6.1 CREATING DIFFERENCE, REIVENTING COMMAS ............................................ 229 6.2 TRANS-FLÂNERIES ............................................................................................ 238 7. CONCLUSION: FROM LE REINE ELIZABETH TO ‘LA QUEEN ÉLISABETH’ .. 253 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 258 DEUTSCHE ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ........................................................................... 285 ix PREAMBLE: FROM ‘THE QUEEN ELIZABETH’ TO LE REINE ELIZABETH Political in nature. E.g. québécois fans stampeding luxury Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Ca. 1950. After hotel being named for foreign queen on dollars. Instead of local hockey great: Maurice Richard (My Paris 67-68). The first-person narrator of Gail Scott’s My Paris refers to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel controversy as well as the Richard Riot.1 She creates a metonymic connection between two isolated incidents that are linked primarily through the setting of Montréal in the 1950s: on the one hand, the British imperialist choice of eponym for the new and soon to be renowned Montréal hotel and, on the other hand, the allegedly francophobic and racially motivated decision of the NHL to suspend the Montréal Canadiens’ star hockey player after a fight during a game against the Boston Bruins on March 13, 1955. What also connects these two incidents is that both brought to the surface the rising ethnic tensions between francophone and anglophone communities in Montréal, which had been held down throughout the first half of the twentieth century.2 Presaging the revolution yet to come, the riots over the suspension of Maurice Richard started on March 17, 1955 during a Canadiens match against Detroit at the 1 Cf. Scott, Gail: My Paris. Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 2003. Both Queen Elizabeth and Maurice Richard can be found on Canadian money: The queen on the front side of the twenty- dollar bill and, until recently, Richard on the reverse side of the five-dollar bill (Canadian Journey Series 2001-2013). The child that plays hockey on a rink that is part of the winter scenery depicted on the bank note wears a sweater with Richard’s jersey number nine. The image is subtitled “The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places — the school, the church and the skating rink — but our life was on the skating rink.” This is a quote from Roch Carrier’s short story “The Hockey Sweater” (1979) which refers to Maurice Richard and his replica number nine. For details, see Melançon, Benoît. The Rocket: A Cultural History of Maurice Richard. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2009. Print. As well as the short film with the same title on the website of the National Film Board of Canada. Cf. <http://www.nfb.ca/film/sweater/> (13 November 2010). 2 For a detailed comment on the riots and their political significance, see André Laurendeau. Le Devoir. 21 March 1955. Print. 1 Montréal Forum