An independent review of the arts
Monday, January 5, 2009

BEING ERICA, CBC

05.01.09

What if you could go back in time and relive events in your past? Would you do things differently? And if you did, would it change the present? A new CBC series, Being Erica, taps into these universal questions, offering us all the chance to reflect on what we’ve done in our pasts and if we could have done things differently. Read on…

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JOUR DE SOUFFRANCE
par Catherine Millet, Flammarion

04.01.09

APRÈS LE SUCCÈS international de La vie sexuelle de Catherine M., Catherine Millet en écrit la conclusion, tentant de répondre à la question : « Dans cette pratique de la liberté sexuelle à deux, que fait-on de la jalousie ? » Le livre n’offre aucune solution, mais une analyse rigoureuse et détaillée. Est-on dans le domaine de la littérature ou de la psychanalyse ? Malgré la belle langue, classique et épurée, le gourmand de la prose littéraire ressent un malaise. La rigidité analytique et l’éclairage cru–de laboratoire–qui enlève volume et mystère aux personnages et aux événements, nous mettent dans l’hypostase d’un thérapeute face à un cas classé, déclinant les prémisses et les conséquences possibles. Le récit garde cependant un intérêt et, s’il n’est pas ému, le lecteur apprécie l’effort d’authenticité et la puissance vitale du vrai protagoniste : l’obsession. Read on…

THE SECRET LEGACY
by Rigoberta Menchu, illustrated by Domi, translated by David Unger, Groundwood books/House of Anansi Press
SHIN-CHI’S CANOE
by Nicola Campbell, Groundwood Books/ House of Anansi Press

03.01.09

TWO HISTORIES: ONE BEAUTIFUL, ONE SORDID; both reminding us of the importance of teaching our children about our past and how far we’ve come, because of and in spite of it. Read on…

01.01.09

OVER THE COMING MONTHS, I will give myself the gift of an ongoing journey, one I know will inspire me and may, over time, inspire others. This gift is to walk or to traverse by other means the perimeter of the island of Montreal, and write about this odyssey in a blog. The idea being to flow with this project like the river surrounding our island, allowing all sensations and all existence to flow through the experience, in time and space. I pledge to travel one day each week, without regard for weather or any other impediment. Both the experience and expression of the experience will be true to the whims of adversity and serendipity. Read on…

31.12.08

I’M JEWISH, SO BEFORE I get around to the question of giving and receiving, you’ll excuse me for not fully understanding why people put themselves through this annual gift-giving meshugas in the first place. We have Chanukah, of course, but everyone knows Chanukah doesn’t count. It doesn’t even qualify as a real Jewish holiday since it isn’t sufficiently obsessed with pain and suffering and indigestible food. Plus, the gifts we get are mostly cheap chocolate and a dreidel. No one, not even kids, takes it very seriously.

Christmas, on the other hand, is serious business. Read on…