The Insurgent Prince - Revision history

Mathieugp at 04:15, 30 January 2011

2011-01-30T04:15:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:15, 30 January 2011
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	[[Category:Translations]]		[[Category:Translations]]
	[[Category:21st century]]		[[Category:21st century]]
			[[Category:2007]]

Mathieugp at 19:54, 14 July 2009

2009-07-14T19:54:42Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 14 July 2009
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	For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was in no way alienated, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free her from the colonialism which maintained her in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have her reach the dignity of her "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.		For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was in no way alienated, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free her from the colonialism which maintained her in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have her reach the dignity of her "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.

	He was coming back from a ~~travel~~ to Greece from which he said that he had not returned, from which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, an event that would make possible the advent of a national thought that would be both original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great scope whom I met who did not have any tendency to hide and justify his self, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: "it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience".		He was coming back from a trip to Greece from which he said that he had not returned, from which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, an event that would make possible the advent of a national thought that would be both original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great scope whom I met who did not have any tendency to hide and justify his self, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: "it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience".

	I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several RIN leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the people in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this companion ~~in battle~~ rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the scuttling ~~of the party~~. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can read ~~again~~ in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes, that this clairvoyance allowed him to see before everyone else, plunged him.		I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several RIN leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot of theirs. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the people in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this battle companion rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the party's scuttling. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can still read in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes, that this clairvoyance allowed him to see before everyone else, plunged him.

	==On the field==		==On the field==
Line 26:		Line 26:
	It clearly appeared to me that Hubert Aquin did not wish to arouse easy recruits. His profound pessimism before all our preceding failures prohibited it to him. Rather, he wanted to bring his compatriots to a deep and irreversible comprehension of the need for independence and its fundamental stake, namely the freedom to be oneself, whatever the provisional price to pay to acquire such a richness.		It clearly appeared to me that Hubert Aquin did not wish to arouse easy recruits. His profound pessimism before all our preceding failures prohibited it to him. Rather, he wanted to bring his compatriots to a deep and irreversible comprehension of the need for independence and its fundamental stake, namely the freedom to be oneself, whatever the provisional price to pay to acquire such a richness.

	If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for ~~interrogations~~ and reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the question periods, when, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved ~~for~~ his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary ~~projection,~~ since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book", said to him, one evening, a very old man, "but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a Great Sir."		If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogation and reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the question periods, when, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved to his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary (since it was natural) projection which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book", said to him, one evening, a very old man, "but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a Great Sir."

	[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated from the alienating consequences of the secular ~~maintaining~~ of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and who consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the field ~~of the enemy~~ and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], with the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in his hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.		[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated from the alienating consequences of the secular maintenance of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and who consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the enemy's field and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, under less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot about our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], with the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in his hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.

	He however re-enlisted himself, ~~in a sporadic way~~, in ~~the~~ militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.		He however re-enlisted himself, sporadicly, in militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.

	Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ''étapiste'' strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.		Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ''étapiste'' strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.

	With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. "The ~~more~~ the discourse ~~is poor~~", he said to me, "the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling." And I saw that this perception ~~that~~ he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.		With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. "The poorer the discourse", he said to me, "the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling." And I saw that this perception he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.

	The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to accept it.		The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to accept it.

Mathieugp at 19:37, 14 July 2009

2009-07-14T19:37:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:37, 14 July 2009
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	[[Category:Press articles]]		[[Category:Press articles]]
	[[Category:Translations]]		[[Category:Translations]]
			[[Category:21st century]]

Mathieugp at 22:13, 22 September 2008

2008-09-22T22:13:44Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:13, 22 September 2008
Line 1:		Line 1:
	This is an unofficial translation of ''[[Le prince insurgé]]'', an article written by Andrée Ferretti for ''Le Devoir'' and published Saturday March 10, 2007		{{Title\|The Insurgent Prince\|[[w:Andrée Ferretti\|Andrée Ferretti]]\|March 10, 2007<br /><br />Translated in 2007 by [[User:Mathieugp\|Mathieu Gauthier-Pilote]] from:<br /><br />''[[biblio:Le prince insurgé\|Le prince insurgé]]''}}

			----
			This is an unofficial translation of ''[[biblio:Le prince insurgé\|Le prince insurgé]]'', an article written by Andrée Ferretti for ''Le Devoir'' and published Saturday March 10, 2007.
	----		----

Mathieugp at 08:16, 29 May 2008

2008-05-29T08:16:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:16, 29 May 2008
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	For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was in no way alienated, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free her from the colonialism which maintained her in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have her reach the dignity of her "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.		For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was in no way alienated, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free her from the colonialism which maintained her in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have her reach the dignity of her "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.

	He was coming back from a ~~trip in~~ Greece of which he said that he had not returned, of which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, an event that would make possible the advent of a national thought that would ~~at the same time~~ be original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great scope whom I met who did not have any tendency to hide and justify his self, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience.		He was coming back from a travel to Greece from which he said that he had not returned, from which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, an event that would make possible the advent of a national thought that would be both original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great scope whom I met who did not have any tendency to hide and justify his self, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: "it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience".

	I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several RIN leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the ~~persons~~ in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this companion in battle rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the scuttling of the party. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can read again in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes, that this clairvoyance allowed him to see before everyone else, plunged him.		I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several RIN leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the people in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this companion in battle rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the scuttling of the party. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can read again in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes, that this clairvoyance allowed him to see before everyone else, plunged him.

	==On the field==		==On the field==
Line 25:		Line 25:
	If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the question periods, when, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book", said to him, one evening, a very old man, "but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a Great Sir."		If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the question periods, when, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book", said to him, one evening, a very old man, "but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a Great Sir."

	[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated from the alienating consequences of the secular maintaining of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and who consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined to the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the ~~ground~~ of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], with the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in his hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.		[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated from the alienating consequences of the secular maintaining of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and who consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the field of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], with the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in his hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.

	He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.		He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.

	Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch ~~together~~. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ''étapiste'' strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.		Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ''étapiste'' strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.

	With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. "The more the discourse is poor", he said to me, "the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling." And I saw that this perception that he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.		With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. "The more the discourse is poor", he said to me, "the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling." And I saw that this perception that he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.

Mathieugp at 18:39, 20 March 2008

2008-03-20T18:39:24Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:39, 20 March 2008
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	{{GFDL}}		{{GFDL}}
			[[Category:Press articles]]
			[[Category:Translations]]

Mathieugp at 22:32, 30 December 2007

2007-12-30T22:32:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:32, 30 December 2007
Line 34:		Line 34:

	The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to accept it.		The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to accept it.


			{{GFDL}}

Mathieugp at 16:11, 26 November 2007

2007-11-26T16:11:41Z

Mathieugp at 19:01, 6 August 2007

2007-08-06T19:01:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:01, 6 August 2007
Line 3:		Line 3:


	[[Image:Hubert-Aquin.jpg\|thumb\|Hubert Aquin, writer, editor, director, producer]]We were holding a meeting of the members of the executive council and the delegates of various action committees of the [[Wikipedia:Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale\|Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale]] (RIN) in the greater Montreal region, immense territory which, in our structures, included the municipalities of the North Shore and the South Shore, in a radius of many ~~dozens of~~ kilometres. As soon as I saw him appear, as he was entering the room, I told myself: "He is a prince."		[[Image:Hubert-Aquin.jpg\|thumb\|Hubert Aquin, writer, editor, director, producer]]We were holding a meeting of the members of the executive council and the delegates of various action committees of the [[Wikipedia:Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale\|Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale]] (RIN) in the greater Montreal region, immense territory which, in our structures, included the municipalities of the North Shore and the South Shore, in a radius of many dozen kilometres. As soon as I saw him appear, as he was entering the room, I told myself: "He is a prince."

	I was not mistaken.		I was not mistaken.

Mathieugp: /* On the field */

2007-08-03T21:36:10Z

On the field

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:36, 3 August 2007
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	If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and the reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the period of questions, whereas, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book, said to him, one evening, a very old man, but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a great sir."		If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and the reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the period of questions, whereas, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book, said to him, one evening, a very old man, but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a great sir."

	Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated of the alienating consequences of the secular maintenance of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and which consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined to the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the ground of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in the hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.		[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated of the alienating consequences of the secular maintenance of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and which consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined to the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the ground of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in the hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.

	He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.		He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:11, 26 November 2007
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	[[Image:Hubert-Aquin.jpg\|thumb\|Hubert Aquin, writer, editor, director, producer]]We were holding a meeting ~~of the members~~ of the executive council and the delegates of various action committees of the [[Wikipedia:Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale\|Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale]] (RIN) in the ~~greater~~ Montreal region, immense territory which, in our structures, included the municipalities of the North Shore and the South Shore, in a radius of many dozen kilometres. As soon as I saw him appear, as he was entering the room, I told myself: "He is a prince."		[[Image:Hubert-Aquin.jpg\|thumb\|Hubert Aquin, writer, editor, director, producer]]We were holding a meeting of the executive council members and the delegates of various action committees of the [[Wikipedia:Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale\|Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale]] (RIN) in the Greater Montreal region, an immense territory which, in our structures, included the municipalities of the North Shore and the South Shore, in a radius of many dozen kilometres. As soon as I saw him appear, as he was entering the room, I told myself: "He is a prince."

	I was not mistaken.		I was not mistaken.

	Not because he elegantly wore an impeccable ~~full~~ three-piece of English cut, neither because he had a majestic walk and ~~the~~ salute ~~of a perfect courtesy~~, nor even because he enchanted me by his extravagance when, having hardly taken seat around the table, he suddenly invited us to discover The Beatles, affirming that this group was revolutionizing popular music, but because everything in the attitude of Hubert Aquin revealed a free man.		Not because he elegantly wore an impeccable three-piece suit of English cut, neither because he had a majestic walk and a perfectly courteous salute, nor even because he enchanted me by his extravagance when, having hardly taken seat around the table, he suddenly invited us to discover ''The Beatles'', affirming that this group was revolutionizing popular music, but because everything in the attitude of Hubert Aquin revealed a free man.

	This was in September 1963.		This was in September 1963.

	For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was ~~alienated~~ in a no way, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free it from the colonialism which maintained it in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have it reach the dignity of ~~its~~ "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.		For the first time, I was meeting in flesh and spirit a French Canadian who was in no way alienated, who was independentist by the nobility of his naturally free self, who fought for the emancipation of his nation, not only, nor initially, to free her from the colonialism which maintained her in a state of political, economic and cultural inferiority, but primarily to have her reach the dignity of her "being there" as a unique and irreplaceable existence in the world and history.

	He was ~~returning~~ from a ~~voyage~~ in Greece ~~from~~ which he said that he had not returned, of which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, event ~~which~~ would make possible the advent of a national thought that would at the same time be original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great ~~''envergure''~~ whom I met who did not have any tendency to ~~clear himself from it~~, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience.		He was coming back from a trip in Greece of which he said that he had not returned, of which he said that he would return only with the proclamation of the independence of Quebec, an event that would make possible the advent of a national thought that would at the same time be original and adequate to the level of development of Western thought. He was the first French-Canadian intellectual of ''haute voltige'' and great scope whom I met who did not have any tendency to hide and justify his self, not more than to dwell too long on our nationalist claims, who, on the contrary, considered that the time had come for the French-Canadian nation to free herself from it completely, to define and to situate herself as an already free subject, able to project itself in the world as carrying a new national conscience, different and creative, ''Québécois'', something which [[Wikipedia:Gaston Miron\|Gaston Miron]] expressed a little later in a luminous sentence: it is not the nationalism which matters, it is the national conscience.

	I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several ~~rinist~~ leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the persons in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this companion in battle rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the scuttling of the party. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can read again in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes ~~enabling~~ him to see before everyone else plunged him.		I was dazzled without being subjugated, whereas on the contrary, it seemed to me, by observing their uneasiness, that several RIN leaders, including its most inspiring and mobilizing ones, were fascinated without being at all allured by the exceptional freedom of this compatriot. Although newly arrived in this assembly of the persons in charge, I even had the impudence to think that the attitude so completely free of this companion in battle rather worried them, because it suggested a possible insubordination to the programs and the strategies of the RIN. Which did not fail to occur on several occasions, particularly at the moment of the scuttling of the party. Hubert Aquin, indeed, severely condemned this sabotage in a letter addressed to [[Wikipedia:André D'Allemagne\|André d’Allemagne]] and to [[Wikipedia:Pierre Bourgault\|Pierre Bourgault]], which one can read again in ''Blocs erratiques''. This brief text shows, like so many others, the perspicacity of this committed intellectual and also the painful consternation in which the turpitudes, that this clairvoyance allowed him to see before everyone else, plunged him.

	==On the field==		==On the field==

	I had, between October 1963 and June 1964, the privilege to accompany him a few times in various regions of Quebec where we were invited to speak on the ~~platforms~~ of the same public meetings. I can testify that Hubert Aquin was not a speaker, but the audacity of his intelligence, the radicality of his thought, the acuity of his analysis and the erudition of his remarks carried the speech beyond itself, letting it deploy itself in the appropriate language, in the complex remarks, required by the very complexity of the situation.		I had, between October 1963 and June 1964, the privilege to accompany him a few times in various regions of Quebec where we were invited to speak on the hustings of the same public meetings. I can testify that Hubert Aquin was not a speaker, but the audacity of his intelligence, the radicality of his thought, the acuity of his analysis, and the erudition of his remarks carried the speech beyond itself, letting it deploy itself in the appropriate language, in the complex remarks, required by the very complexity of the situation.

	It clearly appeared to me that Hubert Aquin did not wish to ~~cause~~ easy ~~adhesions~~. His profound pessimism before all our preceding failures prohibited it to him. Rather, he wanted to bring his compatriots to a deep and irreversible comprehension of the need for independence and its fundamental stake, namely the freedom to be oneself, whatever the provisional price to pay to acquire such a richness.		It clearly appeared to me that Hubert Aquin did not wish to arouse easy recruits. His profound pessimism before all our preceding failures prohibited it to him. Rather, he wanted to bring his compatriots to a deep and irreversible comprehension of the need for independence and its fundamental stake, namely the freedom to be oneself, whatever the provisional price to pay to acquire such a richness.

	If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and ~~the~~ reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the ~~period of questions~~, ~~whereas~~, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book, said to him, one evening, a very old man, but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a ~~great sir~~."		If it is undeniable that he did not have any aptitude to arouse crowds, I can on the other hand testify to his talent to wake up among listeners the need for interrogations and reflexion, and the desire for action, which inevitably appeared during the question periods, when, in an unforeseeable way, taking into account the tepid reception reserved for his speech, half of the people present were hustling to the microphone. Engaged then between the lecturer and the public, astonishing discussions, inseparably of a high level of expression and impassioned engagement, the result, I think, of the involuntary projection, since it was natural, which Hubert Aquin offered of himself: an insurgent prince. "You speak as in a great book", said to him, one evening, a very old man, "but I understand that you are a true rebel, like were our Patriots". He added: "Like [[Wikipedia:Louis-Joseph Papineau\|Louis-Joseph Papineau]], you are a Great Sir."

	[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated of the alienating consequences of the secular ~~maintenance~~ of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and ~~which~~ consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined to the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the ground of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in ~~the~~ hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.		[[Image:Next-episode-hubert-aquin.jpg\|thumb\|left\|''Next Episode'', masterpiece novel of espionage and revolution (1965)]]Because it was indeed that. The Engagement in the battle of a man personally liberated from the alienating consequences of the secular maintaining of his nation under the domination of a foreign State, whose interests were in opposition, and who consequently suffered in all the fibres of his being from the subjugation of his compatriots and their impotence to overcome it. "My country hurts me. Its prolonged failure has thrown me to the ground", will he soon write in ''[[Wikipedia:Next Episode\|Next Episode]]''. He joined to the renewed independence movement, which already mobilized thousands of militants, in order to fight along them for the freedom of his compatriots. Like several other combatants, he had an acute awareness of the vanity of the battles carried out on the ground of the enemy and inside the rules laid down by him. Unfortunately, not more than any of them, was he gifted for strategy. It is thus that in the summer of 1964, in the most madly paradoxical way, he announced with drums and trumpets that he was to enter clandestinity, a decision which led him, in less than three weeks, inside a Canadian gaol, from where he was soon transferred to a psychiatric hospital, which tells a lot on our collective propensity to discredit from the start any subversive political act. A few months later, he left the [http://www.pinel.qc.ca/ Institut Pinel], with the manuscript of ''Next Episode'' in his hands. A great novelist was born, was given to us.

	He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.		He however re-enlisted himself, in a sporadic way, in the militant action, up until a few weeks before the disappearance of the RIN. Our meetings, at this period, were rare and difficult, the men of this time, Hubert Aquin like the others, not appreciating women who affirmed themselves with assurance and a certain success.

	Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch together. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ~~etapist~~ strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.		Neither him nor me, however, were tempted to join the [[Wikipedia:Parti Québécois\|Parti québécois]], in the first years of its existence. For my part, I nevertheless militated during election campaigns and referendums. As for Hubert Aquin, I am unaware of his relationship with the Parti québécois, if he ever had one. It is thus only at the end of the winter of 1975 that I saw him again, one midday, in his office of director of the [http://librairie.cyberpresse.ca/lapresse/index.html Éditions La Presse] where he had invited me to meet him, to have lunch together. I had in front of me a demolished man. As princely, as insurgent as in the beginning of the 1960s, but so deeply wounded by our national inconsistency, the intellectual indigence and disloyalty towards the people of our political, economic and cultural elite and, most of all, by the inconsistency of the whole of the independence movement, subjected to the hegemony of the Parti québécois and its ''étapiste'' strategy, that he felt the distance between his vision of Quebec and its reality had grown increasingly insuperable.

	With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. The more the discourse is poor, he said to me, the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling. And I saw that this perception that he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.		With his habitual intelligence of the situations' contradictions and stupefying speeches, he saw the harmful effects of the galloping mediocrity at work in our society. "The more the discourse is poor", he said to me, "the less it is representative and the more it is characteristic. Banality erected as a system is a true mask of the deficiencies of thought and feeling." And I saw that this perception that he had of the degradation of our national society was making him suffer excessively. The difference between his thought and the expression of this thought and the common reference had become so great in his eyes that he believed himself forever deprived of any dynamic function.

	The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to ~~assume~~ it.		The insurgent prince was alone, as it should be, but Hubert Aquin had apparently lost a little of the freedom which had up to that point enabled him to accept it.