to me: ‘You can see, can’t you, that time is visible. Just look at those watches in the armoire. The time you spend watching time makes it visible. Surely you’re aware that time is a great curved horizon that barely separates us from our origins.’ It was at that moment that the first curves of the aurora borealis appeared. Kim and June joined us with piping-hot tea, which we sipped slowly. The sound of the cups being put down onto saucers, the movement of the little spoons tapping against the edge of the china, nicked the silence. It was still possible for our dazzled eyes to embrace the blackness of northern-hemisphere nights.
Every day now, in my mind, I am sitting in the garden imagining the present. As though it were my true nature,I am starting to want to touch the invisible part of myself. I am tenacious in the landscape. I would love to be able to give darkness a new name.
The war is still raging over the Northwest Passage.
I am everywhere I am. I don’t dare write: I am frozen, fossilized in combat position.
NOTES
The epigraphs are from the following publications:
Page 7: Alessandro Baricco, translated by Alastair McEwen,
Ocean Sea
(New York: Knopf, 1999).
Page 11: Joë Bousquet,
Le meneur de lune
(Paris: Albin Michel, 1946/1998). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 51: François-René de Châteaubriand,
Mémoires d’outretombe
(Paris: Penaud Frères éditeurs, 1849). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 73: Louky Bersianik,
Axes et eau, poèmes de « la Bonne Chanson »
(Montréal: VLB éditeur, 1984). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 103: Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell, ‘The Eighth Elegy,’
The Duino Elegies
in The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (New York: Vintage, 1982).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Nicole Brossard thanks the Foundation Ledig-Rowohlt for the three weeks spent writing in Le Château de Lavigny.
Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood warmly thanks the Canada Council for the Arts for making this adventure possible through their financial support. Also, big big thanks to Alana Wilcox for her unfailing editorial presence and brilliant attention to detail. And of course, to Nicole Brossard for trusting me, once again, with what matters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Brossard was born in Montreal in 1943. Since 1965, she has published more than thirty books, including
Museum of Bone and Water, The Aerial Letter
and
Mauve Desert
. Her contribution and influence to Quebec and francophone poetry is major. Brossard has twice been awarded the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, first in 1974 and again ten years later. In 1965, she co-founded the literary periodical
La barre du jour
and, in 1976, the feminist journal
Les têtes de pioche
. That same year, she co-directed the movie
Some American Feminists
. She was also awarded the Prix Athanase-David, Quebec’s highest literary distinction. In 2006, she won the Canada Council’s prestigious Molson Prize for lifetime achievement. Most of her books have been translated into English and Spanish and many others in different languages. Her collection
Notebook of Roses and Civilization
was shortlisted for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her most recent book is an anthology of her work edited by Louise Forsyth,
Mobility of Light
. Nicole Brossard lives in Montreal.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood lives in Montréal, her home-town. She is the auther of
Re-belle et infidèle: la traduction comme pratique de ré-écriture au féminin / The Body Bilingual : translation as a rewriting in the feminine
(Remue-ménage/Women’s Press, 1991), and of many texts about her practice of both literary and art text translation. As a translator she has co-authered numerous works of theory and fiction, into English and into French, and was shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award in 2005. Her practice has led to parallel art experiences, such
Every day now, in my mind, I am sitting in the garden imagining the present. As though it were my true nature,I am starting to want to touch the invisible part of myself. I am tenacious in the landscape. I would love to be able to give darkness a new name.
The war is still raging over the Northwest Passage.
I am everywhere I am. I don’t dare write: I am frozen, fossilized in combat position.
NOTES
The epigraphs are from the following publications:
Page 7: Alessandro Baricco, translated by Alastair McEwen,
Ocean Sea
(New York: Knopf, 1999).
Page 11: Joë Bousquet,
Le meneur de lune
(Paris: Albin Michel, 1946/1998). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 51: François-René de Châteaubriand,
Mémoires d’outretombe
(Paris: Penaud Frères éditeurs, 1849). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 73: Louky Bersianik,
Axes et eau, poèmes de « la Bonne Chanson »
(Montréal: VLB éditeur, 1984). Quote translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.
Page 103: Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell, ‘The Eighth Elegy,’
The Duino Elegies
in The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (New York: Vintage, 1982).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Nicole Brossard thanks the Foundation Ledig-Rowohlt for the three weeks spent writing in Le Château de Lavigny.
Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood warmly thanks the Canada Council for the Arts for making this adventure possible through their financial support. Also, big big thanks to Alana Wilcox for her unfailing editorial presence and brilliant attention to detail. And of course, to Nicole Brossard for trusting me, once again, with what matters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Brossard was born in Montreal in 1943. Since 1965, she has published more than thirty books, including
Museum of Bone and Water, The Aerial Letter
and
Mauve Desert
. Her contribution and influence to Quebec and francophone poetry is major. Brossard has twice been awarded the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, first in 1974 and again ten years later. In 1965, she co-founded the literary periodical
La barre du jour
and, in 1976, the feminist journal
Les têtes de pioche
. That same year, she co-directed the movie
Some American Feminists
. She was also awarded the Prix Athanase-David, Quebec’s highest literary distinction. In 2006, she won the Canada Council’s prestigious Molson Prize for lifetime achievement. Most of her books have been translated into English and Spanish and many others in different languages. Her collection
Notebook of Roses and Civilization
was shortlisted for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her most recent book is an anthology of her work edited by Louise Forsyth,
Mobility of Light
. Nicole Brossard lives in Montreal.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood lives in Montréal, her home-town. She is the auther of
Re-belle et infidèle: la traduction comme pratique de ré-écriture au féminin / The Body Bilingual : translation as a rewriting in the feminine
(Remue-ménage/Women’s Press, 1991), and of many texts about her practice of both literary and art text translation. As a translator she has co-authered numerous works of theory and fiction, into English and into French, and was shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award in 2005. Her practice has led to parallel art experiences, such
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