Among the many publications of 2023, I was struck by the number of portraits of women or their expressions in all forms: interviews, essays, surveys, novels. In any case, I felt a common thread in my personal decisions, and this reading stimulated me the most.
Published at 12:01 am. Updated at 7:15 a.m.
The interviews with Lise Bissonnette, conducted by Pascale Ryan, published at the beginning of the year were a nice surprise. There we find not only the intellectual journey of the woman who directed Le Devoir and led the Grande Bibliothèque project, but also part of Quebec's history since the Quiet Revolution, as well as a brilliant defense of institutions through the very precise verb of the lady who is very coherent. Of the Grande Bibliothèque, which initially had many critics, she recalls: “The last time the Quebec government created an institution was in 1968 with the University of Quebec network, an institution that spanned the whole of Montreal.” and the region until the late 1970s. After that, nothing more for a quarter of a century. The following decades would belong to the private sector, the quiet revolution had begun, we thought we had caught up with the backlog of services to citizens. »
A remarkable professional career than that of Lise Bissonnette, born in Abitibi in 1945, who, despite receiving several honorary doctorates, never stopped filling the gaps until very late when she began her doctorate on the son of George Sand.
I already admired Lise Bissonnette, these interviews only reinforce my respect for her, who gave a lot to Quebec.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
Catherine Dorion
Catherine Dorion's journey within the democratic institution has been rather short and eventful, but if there is one book that has been talked about this year, for better or for worse, it is hers: Les hotheads – Punk Hope Diaries. It would be wrong to avoid the idealistic attitude of the Québec Solidaire member disappointed by the adventure, because we must understand those who are driven by the desire to do politics differently. In any case, this book allows Catherine Dorion to escape the media clip, but you are free to agree or disagree with her positions and I swear to you that the reading will not be boring. I also really liked “Making a Complaint” by Léa Clermont-Dion, which tells in detail and with great candor the process that she initiated by denouncing her attacker while the #Metoo movement was breaking out on the planet.
Here we have two young women who speak from the inside about their experiences with politics and justice, and do so with openness.
In a first novel, Emmanuelle Pierrot describes another inner experience in “The Version That Nobody Cares About,” certainly one of the most celebrated books of the fall. In vivid and powerful language, Pierrot reveals a frightening mechanism designed to oppress women even in a marginalized community where more openness would have been expected. I don't know of any reader who got through reading it unscathed – the last few chapters almost gave me a panic attack. In a completely different style, which is not without humor despite a serious subject, The Cookies of the Apocalypse – or how I was canceled by the unspeakable by Annie Du surprises; It's a full-throttle indictment, in the form of disheveled fragments, on the literary #metoo here, from an author who survived an attack by a publisher and… bugs.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Elise Turcotte
Some of the most beautiful portraits of female artists we have read this year are certainly “It Could Have Been a Film” by Martine Delvaux and “Self-Portrait of Another” by Élise Turcotte. Delvaux tries to solve the mystery of the painter Hollis Jeffcoat, who lived in the shadow of two giants, Joan Mitchell and Riopelle, while Turcotte investigates the life of his aunt Denise Brosseau, who was the wife of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fernando Garcia Ponce. In both cases, it was aborted film projects that led to the writing of these books in which we reflect on the place reserved for women in the art world.
The way we die cannot encapsulate the richness of an existence, but we want to unfold the storyline when confronted with someone at the end of their life, especially if it is our mother. Watching our mother grow old and die forces us to consider our own end. On the advice of the writer Carole David, I wanted to read “The Life, Age and Death of a Woman of the People” by the philosopher Didier Eribon, which occupied me the whole time.
Inspired by the decline and death of his own mother, Eribon analyzes our relationship to old age today, and I can tell you that he highlights several painful points.
I would be remiss if I didn't include “My Mother's Life” by my former colleague Nathalie Petrowski, which reads like a good chronicle that you don't want to see end. For her, too, the death of her mother Minou Petrowski made her think about her conflict-ridden relationship. I admit that I read this book more to understand the daughter than the mother I barely knew, and I was not disappointed. I actually laughed a lot and was touched by the fault lines of these two women.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BORÉAL
Lise Bissonnette – Interviews, Pascale Ryan, Boréal, 210 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LUX
Hotheads – Punk Notebooks of Hope, Catherine Dorion, Lux, 376 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHEVAL D'AOUTT
File a Complaint, Léa Clermont-Dion, August Horse, 224 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VARIA
The Cookies of the Apocalypse – Or How I Was Cancelled by the Unspeakable, Annie Du, Varia, 166 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LE QUARTANIER
The version that no one cares about, Emmanuelle Pierrot, Le Quartanier, 368 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HÉLIOTROPE
It could have been a film, Martine Delvaux, Héliotrope, 325 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALTO
Self-portrait of another, Élise Turcotte, viola, 280 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FLAMMARION
Life, age and death of a woman of the people, Didier Eribon, Flammarion, 336 pages
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ÉDITIONS LA PRESSE
My mother's life, Nathalie Petrowski, La Presse editions, 136 pages
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