Claude Jutra: scandal vs achievement

Allegations in an explosive new biography of Claude Jutra suggest the master filmmaker was a pedophile. It is, perhaps, hard for those not familiar with the film world of Quebec how damaging the allegations are for a man considered one of Quebec's most exportable "true" artists.

It's impossible to underestimate the importance of Jutra to Quebec: not only are the major prize awards for film here named after him, there are squares in his honor, streets, parks, a house in Montreal (where he once lived) that's designated as an historic building because of his association with it.

Jutra made some extraordinary films. His best-known, Mon Oncle Antoine, marked a watershed in Quebec's cinematic history as it really became the first big international Quebec hit (not mainstream hit but a critical masterpiece and still widely discussed in the film world). And many others followed, films which in Quebec are part of our cultural literacy.

I've always found Jutra an essentially tragic figure and whenever I find myself walking through
Square St-Louis (where he lived and worked), I feel his ghost there. He committed suicide at age 56 by jumping off the Jacques Cartier Bridge into the St-Lawrence River, doing so because he felt that he was developing Alzheimer's disease.

For now the allegations are not proven and the biographer claims that his book is not about pedophilia (he claims that Jutra liked boys in their mid-teens) but this has still rocked the film world with committees being formed to explore the allegations and whether they are true.

To me this gets at the age old question: does a "great" artist actually have to be "great"? Even if the allegations are proved to be true, do they circumvent all his artistic achievements? I say they do not. Of course, naming parks and streets and squares after someone who did abhorrent things is problematic, but they are not named after him because we all assume he was a saint or even a particularly "good" person. They honour him because of his (in this case) artistic abilities, influence or merit. Just as politician might be honoured for his contributions to a city or province or country, even while doing terrible things in his personal life, we are often unable to hold contradictory or even complex portraits of people in our collective consciousness, especially of artists.

A great artist & a creep. The two aren't mutually exclusive

I want to argue that there is an immediacy to this kind of question that doesn't exist for more historical figures (many of whom were horrible people) but then I can also come up with examples of places or dorms at universities being renamed once it becomes clearer to the public what kinds of things those people did, even if that person lived hundreds of years ago.

It's so complicated: what kinds of crimes are unforgiveable (I don't mean legally or morally unforgiveable here)? What kinds of sins do we shrug at and move on from (there was a time when being gay was looked at as enough to strip someone of all his achievements) and which are simply too appalling to be looked past - or indeed, not even looked past but acknowledged as being part of a complex,messed up and contradictory person.

Then again, generations and generations of women were never acknowledged in any similar way (their achievements were ignored or the vast majority of them were simply never given any opportunity to achieve in the formal way we most appreciate).

I don't know if what the biographer says about Jutra is true. Either way, it won't change the way I feel about his films. It won't make him a less tragic figure for me, wandering those streets of Montreal as his mind was slipping away. But I didn't know the man. He didn't have any personal influence on me because I don't know a thing about him as a man; all most of us have is just a glimpse into his artistic vision. Is it possible to honour that without assuming we are honouring the man himself?

I don't have any answers. I just find this entire topic so very sad...

Random Friday Links: Carole King's Tapestry, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, New Canadian Kids Books, Cheapest Places to Travel

Cartagena: home of Marquez (cheap in January)

• Carole King's seminal album Tapestry celebrates its 45th anniversary and a PBS documentary explores its legacy as one of the best-selling albums by a female artist. I just turned 45 too, and this album is one I remember always having around as a very young kid.  I remember that the record had all these panels you could open up with images of King's self-knitted tapestry in addition to the iconic one her sitting in a window with a cat.
• Literary agent Molly O'Neill is on the hunt for new authors!
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez's speech accepting his Nobel Prize for Literature, the Solitude of Latin America. I just spent two weeks in his hometown of Cartagena where his presence is everywhere.
• A slideshow which illustrates the cheapest months of the year to fly to various destinations including Boston, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. Pack your bags: it's cheap now to fly to Hawaii!
• A new imprint of Groundwood will focus on children's books that feature diversity. Sorely needed in Canada.

Canadaland: just what Canada needs

I'm just going to sing the praises of Canadaland for a second. This is what Canada has been missing: a fresh, intelligent and non-corporate take on Canadian news. It's not derivative of US podcasts like other existing podcasts often are; it has a unique and engaging personality behind it (Jesse Brown) and I'm really enjoying his take on events, politics and culture of interest to Canadians.

It's really well done.

Some recent episodes have featured an interview with Christine Blatchford (which, though pressing, ended up as a fairly mild piece in the end), Anne Kingston on Canada's international reputation, Margaret Atwood, and a Green Party of Canada follow-along as one candidate campaigns door to door, to name just a few.

My only gripe is their clunky website which, though workable and easy to use, is striking for its complete lack of a design aesthetic. It looks like a cross between a 1998 MySpace page and a tabloid journalism broadsheet of the 1960s.

But that's a minor quibble. They are doing solid work there that all Canadians should be listening to and supporting.

Germany & Canada, differing roles towards migrants, jailed Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, the Silos in the Old Port: What to do?

An idea for the silos in the Old Port

• A writer with a very personal reflection of how he left Germany because of their anti-immigrant stance and all the xenophobia he experienced, particularly after the wall came down and the two Germanys reunited. Lately, though he's had his eyes opened at how welcoming and friendly Germany has become in the 20 years since his absence, being one of the first countries to welcome refugees from Syria and accepting (so far) more than any other country (Germans out welcoming refugees at train station with gifts and toys and water). Conversely, he looks at how Canada has changed in those years, too, going from a country that is a model of peace keeping to one that bombs other countries. 
• Jailed Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, releases a translated book of the blog posts that got him into trouble (merely calling for separation of church and state), 1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think. PEN World has an excerpt here.
• For those who live in Montreal, here's a list of various ideas with photos/designs for what to do with the Silos along the canal in the Old Port (the site is in French though some great graphics there). Some are great ideas (a huge museum complex, wow, though it'd cost a fortune) and some are standard capitalist fare (Turn them into condos yawn). Honestly, I live not far from them and I'm in the park alongside the silos several times a week. I hope they do nothing with them, at least for now, because that park is one of the best green spaces in the city (and not very busy). 

Canada refuses invitation to be country of honour at prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair

This story has been making the rounds on social media for the past 12 hours and it's a bit shocking.

Apparently, the Canadian government refused the invitation by the largest book fair in the world, citing budget problems. There is generally a cost associated with this honor, but it translates into book deals for authors, publishers, rights agencies, translators and bookstores, and the roughly five to six million dollars it would have cost is minimal.

There's a link to the story here but for some reason, only the Francophone media, Radio-Canada specifically, is reporting on this so far. The link's in French.

Obviously, I don't know all the ins and outs and there could be some other angle or some other information the journalist wasn't privy to, but if this is true, it's really depressing and frustrating. There aren't enough ways to describe how important this kind of honour would have meant for Canada and the Canadian publishing industry in particular. Instead of Canada, the fair then turned their sites on France who them become the country of honour. They ended up spending more than the amount required and are now reaping the benefits.

Canada to Frankfurt: "Naaaaah, we'll pass..."

For the uninitiated, these fairs are terribly important because everyone from the industry is there making deals: publishers meet writers who talk to translators and book chains and libraries and rights agencies and distributors, all with the idea of facilitating book deals all over the world. If your book's been translated and published in Turkish, in Chinese, in French, in Spanish, chances are the deal happened (or the contact was made) in Frankfurt. It's the biggest and most prestigious book fair in the world (by far) and attracts 275,000 visitors and 9,000 journalists.

So the thought that the Canadian government said no for a measly $6,000,000 is appalling, especially when one considers the fact that after years of essentially being one of the main drivers in creating an identity for Canadian literature inside Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts (funded by the Federal government) has for a couple of years started spending (a small amount of) money trying to promote Canadian literature outside Canada, to put Canada on the map internationally in terms of our artists, writers, musicians, dancers, etc.

I'm sure Canada Council had little to no involvement in the above decision since they have a specific mandate and the Frankfurt Book Fair would have fallen outside it, but it just goes to show how one branch of government can often be undoing what the other hand is trying to accomplish.

Mãn by Kim Thúy

câu hỏi
~
questions

In south Vietnam, we never talk about the weather. We never make comments, perhaps because there are no seasons, no changes, like in this kitchen. Or maybe because we accept things as they are, as they happen to us, never asking why or how.

Once, through the little square opening for serving the plates, I heard some lawyer clients say that you should only ask questions to which you already know the answers. Otherwise, it's better to be silent. I will never find answers to my questions, and that may be why I've never asked one. All I did was climb up and down the stairs that connected my oven to my bed. My husband built the stairwell to protect me from the cold in winter and the vagaries of life outside at all times.
                                             
                                                                          - Mãn by Kim Thúy

Richard Ford, Kevin Barry, Josip Novakovich: Blue Met 2014

Dutch edition of Canada

When Richard Ford confirmed his presence at the Blue Met 2014 back in the fall, I was considering some way  to work in setting to one of his events because it seems to be such a key part of his writing. And not just the setting in one particular novel but the fact that his novels have such a variety of settings (Saskatchewan and Montana, New Jersey, Mexico, etc.).

Then when we nailed down the participation of Irish writer Kevin Barry I knew I had the way in because Barry's work, too, is wedded to place in very unique ways. Unlike Ford, Barry sets most of his books in Ireland though it might be contemporary Ireland or a vague near-future Ireland. Barry is an interesting writing and is one of those rare fiction authors who can make you laugh out loud, not only at one his neurotic protagonists think and feel but at the hum-drum but also bizarre situations these protagonists find themselves in. His short story collection, Dark Lies the Island, was so well done that after I finished it (in almost one sitting), I flipped back and re-read it (most of it, anyway), something I almost never do.

Irish writer Kevin Barry

Josip Novakovich is a writer whose career is just plain interesting: I saw him  years ago at Blue Met (before I ever had any idea I would work here!) when he launched his book April Fool's Day and I had not heard of him before then (this was probably 2005 or 2006). I got his book and read it over the next few weeks and was mesmerized by it. Then he did a small collection with Snare a few years back called Three Deaths which, again, really impressed me (that small publishing house managed to publish some really great stuff in its short run). For Novakovich himself, place is key to his writing as he's noted in interviews as well as in his most recent book, Shopping for a Better Country.

Ford, Barry and Novakovich will be at Hotel 10 in Salle Godin on Sunday, May 4 at 11:00am to talk about how place informs their writing. Hosted by Slate Magazine's Stephen Metcalf, the event is sure to be one that will be a highlight of our Festival this year. The event tickets are $15 and can be bought here. This one will definitely sell out so don't wait too long!

Structuring Landscape: Ford, Barry, Novakovich      (photo credit here)

National Forum on the Literary Arts

So this weekend I've been holed up in a basement conference room near McGill University, attending the National Forum on the Literary Arts which Canada Council for the Arts is putting on.

What an incredibly rich gathering of literary professionals from all over the country: poets, writers, festival organizers, publishers, booksellers, storytellers, librarians, publicity agents, probably over 200 people. We've all come together to discuss the future of the literary arts in Canada and what a conversation it's been.

One thing I have to say that I have really appreciated about the forum is the intentional variety that's been a core part of how it's been organized. I've been in rooms with only writers or only festival organizers and so often individual groups involved in the literary arts have specific sets of problems. But talking to different kinds of stakeholders in the literary world makes us all aware of the entire eco-system.

Yesterday we heard from Richard Nash of Byliner.com who was snowed-in so stuck at Laguardia but still beamed in to give us his funny, thoughtful and provocative take on the last 1000 years of literary history (in 50 minutes). I didn't agree with everything he said but he certainly got the audience talking.

The best moments, though, of these conferences, are the moments in between sessions: sharing a coffee in a corner with one of the country's best literary magazine promoters, being irritated at an off-hand comment by a major Canadian publisher, seeing old friends I've known for years and shaking hands with people I've never met but sent 500 emails to, traipsing through a blizzard with three major west-coast Festival directors, a writer, and a poet, and discussing writers to avoid (yes, we share notes, writers so behave yourselves!), writers who are a gem to work with, companies, themes, problems, personalities, venues, etc., etc.

We're very lucky in Canada that we have the Canada Council who does so much to promote the arts but then also takes the time to listen to its artists. Working in the arts isn't easy and though it has its perks, is not something someone does unless they love it. And the fact that the government of Canada is willing to invest in supporting and promoting its arts is one of the most amazing things about living here.

This said, mind you, from someone who only became a Canadian citizen less than a month ago...

Poetry Events at Blue Met

We have several poetry events at this year`s Festival and we love nothing more than to pack them with both poetry connoisseurs and those who perhaps who are just curious to see what local poets are doing...

I posted about it before, but Poets at Night happens on Friday, April 29th night at 6pm. Anyone who was at Poetry Pandemonium last night at Sparrow (packed house, impressive!) will be happy to hear that Gabe Foreman is reading again at our Blue Met event. In addition, we have Quebec poet Aurian Haller, Swiss/Italian poet Oliver Scharpf, Latvian Edvins Raups, and American Andrea Moore. Tickets still available for this one. Get them here.

On Wednesday evening, we have an interesting line up of two Arab-Canadian poets, John Asfour and Ehab Lotayef. Asfour, originally from Lebanon, writes charming little gems that challenge all our assumptions about how we experience (and how we should experience) poetry. Blinded as a youth by a stray missile in his native Lebanon, Asfour explores senses in his new work, Blindfold, and gets at the very heart of what it means to write and read poetry.


Silver Threads

He recalls
the absence of sound, the impossible silence
the disappearance of light.

He is only aware of
the movement of his
mother's hand inside
her purse, looking

for her handkerchief.
He recalls her
warning not to play
with unknown objects
the type that explode on impact. Later,

he lies in the dark remembering
how she pointed out
the silver threads of morning light
just the day before
and he sparkles
with guilt.

Ehab Lotayef

Lotayef's most recent work To Love a Palestinian Woman explores the delicate humanity that makes up our individual experience: that of a migrant, that of a poet, that of a traveler or activist. With echoes of Neruda, Aldous Huxley and Ginsberg, this collection shows a breadth of intellectual curiosity moderated by a deep emotional longing for justice.

Today I shall write the happiest lines:
the sun is up early, calling me
birds sing on every tree
imprisoned in your love
I'm free.

...

Today I shall write the wisest lines:
I'll explain why there is injustice on earth
why there is disease
why some are poor while others have too much
why I am in love with you.

Moderated by UQAM's Rachad Antonius, this event on Wednesday, April 27th at 5pm will present some accessible and lovely work by two important Canadian poets. Get tickets here.