Ellen R. Babby
Michel Tremblay's most recent novel, La Duchesse et le roturier, constitutes the third of the "Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal," preceded by La Grosse femme d'à côté est enceinte and Thérèse et Pierrette à l'école des Saints-Anges. The similarities with the two earlier texts are easily identified: once again we visit with Albertine, Gabriel, "la grosse femme," Edouard, Thérèse, Marcel, all inhabitants of the familiar house on rue Fabre in Montréal. La Duchesse et le roturier, however, distinguishes itself from its predecessors. Structurally, one notes a more refined narrative technique; absent are the plethora of explicative and judgmental commentaries of the Protean narrator (although several are still apparent). La Duchesse shares the fragmented narrative scenes of the earlier texts, but several of these tableaux are more lengthy, more detailed, and function as independent narrative units. The focus in this text is on Edouard who is examined only peripherally in the earlier novels. The title of the volume refers to Edouard who is presented as the roturier, the shoe salesman. Edouard aspires to be a duchesse, a romantic heroine. The text revolves around his attempt to realize this fiction. Parallel to Edouard is Marcel, the younger nephew, who has renounced the "real" world in favor of a fantastical one. Whereas Edouard seeks acceptance of his aspired role, Marcel indifferently retreats to the imaginative realm.
What most markedly distinguishes this text from the two earlier novels of the series is its use of sub-text or literary reference, that is, its implicit (and at times, explicit) play with Balzac's La Cuchesse de Langeais, a component of L'Histoire des treize, a text cited in the epigraph to Tremblay's novel. Allusions to La Duchesse de Langeais are evident from the text's inception. They become more marked as the novel progresses, and culminate in a direct reference to Edouard's desire to be a "Carmélite Déchaussée: Ça c'est un destin! Pis c'est ça que je veux être! Pas un vendeur de suyers!" ["A barefoot Carmelite: Now there's a life! That's what I want to be! Not a shoe salesman!"]… Moreover, the play of sexuality draws a striking parallel with another component of Balzac's Histoire des treize, namely, La Fille aux yeux d'or.
Sub-text and text—two fictional realms—are superimposed on two other polarities, the world of the theater ("le monde du show business") and that of "reality." The polarity suggested in the novel's title becomes highly charged when placed against this backdrop. Tremblay's own role as a master playwright, his preoccupation with the theatre, and in short, with representation factor into the complexity of the text. (pp. 143-44)
"La grosse femme" who holds a titular position in the first novel of the series, plays only a minor role in this novel. Her presence, however, is continuously felt. She remains unnamed (as does her son) and thus unrooted in the "real." Her one evening at the theatre, accompanied by Albertine (Edouard's sister) is described in great detail, for it is during this scene that "la grosse femme" (to the ignorance of Albertine) recognizes Edouard disguised as the Duchesse. The differing perspectives of this scene provide for fascinating narrative analysis.
The polarity suggested in the novel's title is thus metaphorically reproduced on several levels. The intellectual exercise required to identify and sort out the forces at play in La Duchesse et le roturier is challenging yet satisfying for it enables us to appreciate the intricate workings of this beautifully woven text. La Duchesse et le roturier, Tremblay's most brilliant literary work to date, undoubtedly constitutes a major contribution to the development of the Quebec novel. (p. 144)
Ellen R. Babby, in a review of "La duchesse et le routuríer," in The French Review (copyright 1983 by the American Association of Teachers of French), Vol. LVII, No. 1, October, 1983, pp. 143-44.
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