Ibis3’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2010)

Ibis3’s comments from the CanLit Challenge group.

This was a *really* good book. The story of four lives beginning with the boyhood of the narrator in a small Ontario village in 1908 and a fateful throw of a snowball, through the battle of Passchendaele with all the mud and horror seen with all the myopia of a single soldier, manhood with all its politics and passions. A mythic story too, complete with a Wise Old Man, a Holy Saint, a Magus at the height of his power, an Androgynous Catalyst, a King (or at least a wannabe one), and of course, our narrator, the Fifth Business. Great. Great. Great.

I really enjoyed these stories of West Africa at the twilight of European colonialism. They are filled with ambivalence as old beliefs and traditions die away as the modern world invades/is embraced. It’s a very difficult situation (and we see it everywhere, not just in the colonies of Europe). With modern science and the global monoculture, we are all in a continual process of loss, as languages, stories, beliefs, habitat, tribal (or rural) lifestyle are replaced with what’s new, modern, clean, intelligible, monolithic, American (often). This is a theme that Alistair MacLeod explored in his books, though his focus was on the Gaelic culture of Cape Breton.

Dale wrote: "It gets very preachy (sp?) in sections - long sections at times. In today's world, it almost sounds like a cult going on. I'm glad I'm not a quitter, because it does eventually return to storylines..."

I guess that sort of thing must have been very popular at the time, given the fact that Connor was a bestseller of the period. It's funny how tastes have changed so radically in such a short century.

How's it going, Dale? I'm progressing slowly (mostly for lack of time). I get what you said about the rustic charm--he's about to give us a description of sugaring off (real Canadiana).

Hope the baby's doing better.

I'm approaching the climax of the novel, and I gotta say, even though we know the outcome, it is so very suspenseful. Takes a great novelist to pull that off! How and why??

Great to have you with us, Kirsten. Hope you find some good books and good conversation here.

It really picks up once Grace starts telling her story.

***spoilers for chapter 3***

The description of Mrs. Murray is a little over the top. She's like a living saint and gets her angel's wings by sacrificing her own needs and intellectual stimulation to obediently serve her husband and his parishioners, a good servant of the Christian patriarchy. The description reminded me a bit of Marmee in Little Women.

I peeked ahead to read the afterword, to find out whether Alison Gordon mentions her or not, and discovered that Mrs. Murray is modelled after Ralph Connor's mother. Ahh. No wonder she's so perfect and idealised in her role. Apparently, there's another female character who's more independent coming up.

Some possible discussion questions, courtesy of M&S:

1. Next Episode has a strong autobiographical component. Like his narrator, Hubert Aquin fought for the independence of Quebec and was arrested for carrying a firearm and driving a stolen vehicle. After appearing in court, he was held for several months in a psychiatric institute. While in the institute, he wrote Next Episode. How do these facts affect your interest in the novel? Do they alter the impact of the story?

2. What are different possible meanings of the title Next Episode? How can they be related to the conclusion of the novel?

3. The cover of [one edition] shows the well-known painting by Benjamin West, “The Death of General Wolfe” (1770). This painting is mentioned several times in the story. Why is this painting crucial to the meaning of the novel? In what way does it give a historical dimension to the narrator’s revolutionary quest?

4. In the first few lines of the novel, there are two references to Cuba: “Cuba is sinking in flames [...]. Between the anniversary of the Cuban revolution and the date of my trial...”. Why do you think that these references appear at the beginning of the novel? What important theme do they highlight?

5. The narrator’s spy story takes place in Switzerland. There are many images of descent into Lake Leman and ascent towards the mountains. How do these images reflect the narrator’s emotional state?

6. In the spy story, the revolutionary agent finds a one-word mysterious cryptogram of jumbled capital letters which he is unable to decipher. The source of the cryptogram is Vita Romana by Enrico Paoli. Aquin uses seven of the fifteen original Latin inscriptions designating various people to formulate the cryptogram. In what way does this strange cryptogram add to the mystery of the spy story? Why do you think that it cannot be adequately decoded?

7. Why does the narrator give the counter-revolutionary enemy in his novel three different names: Hamidou Diop, Carl von Ryndt and H. De Heutz? What other characteristics of a spy novel can be found in this story?

8. The narrator frequently writes about his feelings of hopelessness and despair. What is the cause of his despair? In what way is he trying to overcome it?

9. How would you describe the main character incarcerated in the psychiatric institute? Is he a self-indulgent delusional man or an idealist and a revolutionary who wants to liberate Quebec?

10. The narrator’s main character, a Québécois revolutionary, is unable to kill the enemy H. de Heutz. What parallel do you see between this character and the narrator? Why are the themes of audacity and powerlessness central to the novel?

11. “The only thing that’s certain now is your secret name, your warm, wet mouth, your amazing body I reinvent again and again with less precision and more passion” writes the narrator about his beloved, the blonde woman named K. How does this passionate love story enrich the meaning of the novel? In what way does the letter K link the narrator’s love for a woman to his love for Québec?

12. How would you describe Aquin’s style? Why does the action move back and forth from Montreal to the Eastern Townships to Switzerland? Why is the prose frequently feverish and dense?

13. “I am the fragmented symbol of Québec’s revolution, its fractured reflection and its suicidal incarceration” writes the narrator of Next Episode. In what way does this statement invoke both hope and despair?

14. “Writing is a great expression of love” says the narrator. Why is writing such an important theme in this novel? In what way is writing related to the narrator’s desperate quest for survival in the psychiatric institute, to his love for K and for an independent Québec?

15. In the last paragraph, the narrator writes: “When the battles are done, the revolution will continue to unfold; only then perhaps will I find the time to bring this book to a final stop and to kill H. de Heutz once and for all”. Why has the narrator been unable to stage the murder of H. de Heutz? What does this inability reflect?

16. “That’s what I’ll say in the final sentence of my novel. And, a few lines later, I shall write in capital letters the words : THE END.” How do you interpret the ending of Next Episode? Why is Aquin unable to finish the story?

17. What does Next Episode tell us about the desire for change and independence in Québec in the 1960s? In what way does the novel transcend the boundaries of Québec to express a fundamental human need for self-determination?

18. Hubert Aquin was strongly influenced by some writers of decolonization, especially Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon. How is this influence evident in the novel?

19. Next Episode is a novel of liberation and one of the most important books written in Québec. It is bold and innovative in style and content. It speaks eloquently and passionately about love for a woman, for literature and for Québec. Why should it be read by as many Canadians as possible?

---
About the reader's guide author:
Janet Paterson is Chair of the Department of French at the University of Toronto.

She is a specialist in Quebec literature who has written several books, including a critical edition of Trou de mémoire in L’édition critique de l’ouevre d’Hubert Aquin, Bibliothequè québécoise.

Mrsgaskell wrote: " Does anyone know if this is a sequel to The Man from Glengarry and if I need to read it first? "

I'm pretty sure not. I think they're both stand-alones.

Cheryl wrote: "I'd love to read some middle-grade or YA set in modern (post 1945 or so) Canada. Any recommendations?"

Oh jeez. Must have missed this. The first thing that came to mind was the Guests of War Trilogy by Kit Pearson. It's actually set during the war, so just before your start date, but it was pretty good & I'm not sure you knew about it.

ETA: And it's kind of a *young* young adult. Like in the 10-12 range rather than 13 and up.

My favourite of the trilogy was What's Bred in the Bone, but I liked this one too. Back among the erudite at U of T with a side trip to Stratford. I don’t know a lot about opera or the theatre (watching is about the extent of my knowledge), but that wasn’t a hindrance. Knowing something about the Arthurian myth was much more important (though, as usual with “ponderous” and “toplofty” Mr Davies, we’re given more than enough background to suffice). I also enjoyed the inclusion of the Tarot reading and the way that all the loose ends from the first two books were cleared up.

***spoilers***
So was Maria the “victim” of a glamour or did she know who was fathering her son? It was a lot like the way Arthur (the King, not the character) was conceived. Poor Arthur (the character, not the King). I had just finished reading Froissart’s Chronicles and he reports that there was a rumour that Richard II was not in fact the son of Arthur, the Black Prince, but that his wife found someone to take that role and presented both Edward and Richard as Arthur’s own. I’m surprised no one brought that up. LOL.

This was my original review: This was an unusual book for me–I really liked parts of it and really disliked other parts–real mountain and valley stuff. Sometimes the writing seemed self-conscious and was a bit of a turn off and then other times it was absolutely brilliant. I didn’t particularly like David. He was really selfish and snobbish & disrespectful toward his family. I get that he was a bit of a square peg in a round hole, but at least when his family members did something that made him feel bad, they didn’t do it on purpose. I really enjoyed the parts about his parents–at times I wished the book had been about them instead of David, and his descriptions of the seasons and of Christmas were great too. I’m glad I read the book due to having read those passages alone (I mean it was worth it just to have read them, even if there had been no other good parts–and there were of course). It really did seem like a Canadian A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

I started on this one finally. Decided not to hold up for Alias Grace, so I'm now reading both at once. I had been a little worried about doing that since they both take place at about the same time, but now I'm pretty sure I won't get them confused.

Though my own family isn't from the Ottawa valley, that's where I grew up (some of the time anyway), so this history of the "Papists" (French Canadians & Irish) mixing with and rivals with the Protestants (Scots and English) on the river (or on the canal) is familiar territory. Should be rather fun to explore if it doesn't get too preachy.

Wonder if that Gaelic lumberjack song is up on the net somewhere?

Good to hear.

Since we're still reading this, I've bumped up the "finish" date.

I'm still cranky.

So is everyone going to go out and buy the books as Jack Rabinovitch exhorts us to? They all look interesting.

Ah. I peeked at the beginning there--not only dialect (in this case a mix of Scottish English, Yankee, and Québecois accents), but some Gaelic thrown in for good measure. Hopefully, even if the dialogue continues like that through the book, you'll get used to it?

Oh, anyone else planning to go see The Tempest at the cinema?