For Sure Read online

  109.39.1

  Freud Circuitously

  The small and more or less scientific survey on perceptions of the colour of vowels was taken up at the Babar, which had subscribed to L’Acadie nouvelle as a service to the clientele. A few lines on the survey had appeared as filler in the newspaper.

  “As wot, you say?”

  “Filler.”

  “An’ wot’s dat, I’d like to know.”

  “A short article in a newspaper. Not more than a paragraph or two usually. To fill in the space.”

  “Wot d’ya mean, ‘fill in de space’? Wot space are we talkin’ about?”

  110.6.4

  The Babar

  Claude Garamond created the first type foundry independent of a printer. A Parisian, Garamond (1499–1581) probably based his roman characters, which are the basis for all classical typefaces, on the type of Geoffroy Tory, Alde Manuce, and Francesco Griffo. The subsequent appearance of Baskerville type in England and Didot in France rendered Garamond all but invisible for more than a century, but the National French Press relaunched the style at the beginning of the twentieth century, at the time of the World’s Fair. Today, publishers increasingly prefer Garamond to Times New Roman, which was designed for the London Times.

  111.10.11

  Typography

  This was Marianne’s second sore throat in as many months.

  “Could be the same one that wasn’t completely cured de first time.”

  “Like a relapse, you mean?”

  Carmen envied Terry’s use of the French word rechute for “relapse” rather than slipping into the English, as he might have done. His vocabulary seemed to be improving lately.

  “You think she ought to see the doctor?”

  Terry wasn’t sure. He wasn’t the type to run off to the doctor at the slightest malaise.

  “T’isn’t as doh she’s complaining all de time. Her nose’s hardly runnin’ at all.”

  “It doesn’t seem normal, a sore throat that’s not a cold. Can kids that age be catchin’ mono?”

  Terry turned to Marianne:

  “Marianne, did you go off an’ kiss somebody an’ not tell yer mum or dad?”

  Marianne looked from her dad to her mum.

  “Dad’s just pullin’ yer leg, me beauty. Come on over ’ere to yer mum.”

  Marianne did not need to be asked twice; she walked into Carmen’s outstretched arms.

  “Seems to me she’s a whole lot quieter too, not jumpin’ all over everything all de time.”

  Terry knew what Carmen meant.

  “Anyways, one ting’s fer sure, she’s not havin’ ’er tonsils out.”

  He used the English word tonsils.

  “An’ why’s that?”

  “Dey discovered tonsils is what processes our emotions an’ memories while we’s sleepin’.”

  Terry said processes in English.

  “Sorry, don’t know the right word fer processes.”

  This information about tonsils worried Carmen.

  “Go on! Are ya serious?”

  “Dat’s wot I read.”

  Carmen fell silent. Gently caressing Marianne, she was trying to think what effect having her own tonsils out when she was six years old might have had on her.

  “Well, I suppose it don’t make sense tonsils would be useless after all.”

  “Amygdales!” Terry exclaimed, picking up on Carmen’s use of the French for tonsils.

  “Dat’s de word I’s lookin’ fer.”

  112.87.3

  The Body

  This book is typeset in __________________. (This information is usually found at the end of the work.)

  113.131.1

  Parenthesi(e)s

  Once Étienne Zablonski had understood that the vert laine Le Petit Étienne was talking about was not green wool, but rather Verlaine the poet, and after Zablonski had explained that verveine was not about green veins but rather a plant with which one makes tea, and that no, or perhaps actually, there may be a colour called orange à mère, though he Zablonski was not aware of it, but if there was, probably the words meant not mother’s orange but rather orange amère or bitter orange, called in Acadian French orange aigre, or haigre — he’d also heard it pronounced haigue3 — well, once he’d understood all that, the painter Étienne Zablonski went to the back of his loft to bring out a rare object from his distant past.

  114.2.10

  Colours

  At least two rumours contributed to discrediting the work of Freud: first, that he used heroin; and second, that he was involved in an incestuous relationship with his daughter.

  115.108.8

  Rumours

  The largest consensus emerged around the letter o. No fewer than 61 responders associated the letter o with the colour orange. Ten responders declared it to be red, eight blue, seven black, six yellow, three pink, two white, two purple, and one each green, grey and violet. No one answered “nothing” or “I forget.”

  117.3.4

  Statistics

  As a rule Terry made up his own mind about which books to read. He mostly relied on his instinct to guide him. But when it came to Freud, he was stymied by the sheer number of books the founder of psychoanalysis had written, not to mention the multitude of volumes written about him and his works. Terry sought guidance from Ludmilla.

  “Many authors get lost in the details of his interpretations rather than simply noting the originality of his approach for the time.”

  So it was something to do with a bygone era? Terry didn’t feel like reading a whole lot of dusty old books.

  “Are you sayin ’twould be too old, today?”

  “The Interpretation of Dreams will give you a good idea of his work. Especially since he wrote very well. He took great care with his writing style.”

  This was the first time Terry had heard of such a thing. To have a writing style. To work on your writing style. Of course. It made perfect sense. Why should it surprise him? Ludmilla added:

  “Psychopathology of Everyday Life is also quite interesting, though a trifle long.”

  They were obliged to cut their conversation short because a customer was waiting at the cash.

  118.8.7

  Didot Books

  Here I’d like to point out that the list of authors in La Pléiade includes an Acadian. The sinologist Charles Le Blanc, a native of northern New Brunswick who, with the Frenchman Rémi Mathieu, co-edited the second volume of Philosophes taoïstes (Daoist Philosophers), and the first volume of Philosophes confucianistes (Confucian Philosophers). An eminent scholar, needless to say.

  119.19.3

  Interesting Details

  Le Petit Étienne stared wide-eyed at the old colour chart Le Grand Étienne laid out before him. Almost a hundred years old and designed by the famous silk manufacturers of Lyon, the chart displayed close to 500 colours in narrow silk strips, each one appropriately named and numbered. As he admired the work, Le Petit Étienne could not restrain himself from fingering the occasional strip.

  120.2.11

  Colours

  Freud had the distinct impression, which he did not conceal, that he was bringing Americans the plague on his only voyage to the United States, in September 1909. Invited to receive an honorary doctorate from Clark University in Worcester, Massachussetts, Freud made the trip by boat, accompanied by Jung and Ferenczi. Though his works had won over adherents in most of Europe’s great metropolises, and even in New York, his ideas remained popular with only a minority and scandalized most everyone else. One of the happy memories Freud retained from that voyage was the fact that his steward on board happened to be reading Psychopathology of Everyday Life, since Freud had written that book with the express purpose of rendering his science access
ible to a broader public.

  121.39.2

  Freud Circuitously

  The customer wanted to buy two paperbacks, Petits malentendus sans importance (Little Misunderstandings of No Importance) by Antonio Tabucchi, and Comment je suis devenu stupide (How I Became Stupid) by Martin Page, but she also asked for several other books not on the shelves. Terry happily grabbed an order form from under the register.

  “The first one is Un jour nous aurons des peintres (One Day We’ll have Artists) by . . .”

  But Terry jumped:

  “It’s not over der wid de art books? Seemed to me . . .”

  He walked toward the back of the bookstore, searched for a bit, but returned emptyhanded.

  “No. I was sure we had a copy left. Must’ve sold it.”

  Terry returned to the order form and wrote the title and name of the author without asking the customer to repeat it. The name of Annie Cohen-Solal had stayed with him since he’d heard a discussion of her book on television.

  “I’d also like Exercises de style (Exercises in Style) by Raymond Queneau. Gallimard Jeunesse recently published an illustrated version; that’s the one I’m looking for.”

  Terry added a note in the column “Comments” on the form.

  And I’d like Poèmes épars (Scattered Poems) by Gaston Miron.

  “Dee Gaston Miron?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wah, I’ll be . . . I tot he’d published only de one book L’homme rapaillé (The March to Love).”

  “Yes. This is a new one, recently published posthumously.”

  Terry wrote down the third title, adding:

  “I suppose I’d better be orderin’ more dan one den. Ever since we set up shop four years ago now, every year we’re sellin’ ten copies or so of L’homme rapaillé.”

  “Is that a lot?”

  Terry laughed.

  “’Tis plenty for us, anyway. And we’re talkin’ poems, mind you . . .”

  . . .

  “Would you be wanting me to ring you when dey come in den?”

  “That would be fine, yes.”

  The client gave him her particulars, and Terry took the money for the two other books.

  “You’ve a fine selection of paperbacks.”

  “We try.”

  Terry looked frankly at the woman, and smiled.

  “Don’t know why dat is, but I like paperbacks. I’m always hopin’ a book comes out in paperback afore I get around to readin’ it. Dere’s plenty of good books, so I’m never in so much of a hurry I can’t wait.”

  Surprised by Terry’s pleasant manner, the customer decided he was something of a real bookseller.

  “Naw, I figure I’ll never be lackin’ in books to read.”

  As he spoke, Terry raised his arms to encompass the bookstore. The woman liked him, and returned his friendly smile.

  122.8.8

  Didot Books

  It is in her novel Just Fine that the Acadian novelist France Daigle first explores the symbolism of the number 12, which, when multiplied by itself, is said to evoke plenitude.

  123.12.1

  Structure

  “Wuchak de groundhog wasn’t a bad sort. Only ting, she never knew when to stop. Say she came across a barrow full o’ lettuce, well she just started in anibblin’, ’till she’d ate up de whole ting. Den off she goes home in Roches-de-la-Butte, only she’s so full she can hardly walk, see. An’ all de while, she’s burpin’ an’ fartin’ on account of ’er tummy’s churnin’ so hard from havin’ to digest all dat greenery.”

  Burps and farts were among Marianne’s most favourite things.

  “Well, lo and behold, one time, Wuchak goes an’ finds a wagon full o’ cabbage! An’ if you tinks lettuce will get ya fartin’, ha! Cabbage is like five times worse!”

  This set Marianne off into ever greater peals of laughter. She’d heard enough storytelling to appreciate a rising dramatic action.

  “Trouble was, Wuchak din’t know Mrs. Bigbelly, who was in de habit of eatin’ a cabbage every mornin’ fer her breakfast. She’d cut it up, see, into wee bits and put ’em in one of dem big salad bowls, wid lots o’ milk and some sugar, and den she eats it all up like it was corn flakes.”

  Marianne giggled. Meanwhile, Terry tried to think where to go from there.

  “Well, does ya think Mrs. Bigbelly was goin’ to sit back an’ do nuttin’ while her cabbages was all bein’ eaten up? No sirree. Mrs. Bigbelly was no fool. You wouldn’ tink so lookin’ at ’er, but Mrs. Bigbelly knew a ting or two. So, when she see’d Wuchak the groundhog up on ’er hindlegs and chompin’ on a big juicy cabbage, wot d’ya tink she done?”

  Marianne did not want to guess. Terry pressed on with the first thing that came to mind:

  “She went an’ fetched her fiddle and bow, and she set herself right up close to Wuchak . . . On account of Wuchak didn’t mind folks watchin’ ’er eat. But when she heard Mrs. Bigbelly’s fiddle, well she took off like a rocket.”

  Marianne could not guess why.

  “On account of Mrs. Bigbelly may ’ave owned a fiddle, but she weren’t no fiddler. You might say she played terrible awful, you wouldn’t be far off. And dere’s nuttin’ worse dan a fiddle badly played. So Wuchak takes off, an’ right quick too. An’ dat’s how Mrs. Bigbelly didn’t just save ’er cabbages, she saved Wuchak from a right mean swamp . . .”

  Terry pinched his nose and concluded in a nasal tone:

  “Pee-youuuu, if ya catches me drift.”

  Which made Marianne laugh, even though she didn’t really understand what her dad meant.

  Terry bent over his daughter:

  “G’night, me pretty woodchuck . . .”

  And he squeezed her tight in his arms, as though to bury the scatological edge to his story. Well it was the best he’d been able to do that night.

  124.37.10

  Animal Tales

  Excerpt from the novel Just Fine by the Acadian France Daigle, as translated by Robert Majzels, © House of Anansi Press, 1999: “Product of the three planes of space and the four cardinal points, the number 12 symbolizes both the internal complexity of the world and the celestial vault, divided into 12 sections, the 12 signs of the zodiac. We find its symbolic power in all the great civilizations, but also among lesser known peoples, the Dogons and Bambaras of Mali, for example, for whom the 3 and 4 correspond to the male and female elements, which together add up to the static number 7, and multiply to produce the dynamic number 12, representing the perpetual becoming of the individual being and the universe. Twelve is the action number, at the same time as it represents accomplishments and the completed cycle. We find it often in the Jewish and Christian holy texts, where it symbolizes perfection. Multiplied by itself, the number 12 is said to lead to plenitude and paradise, no less.

  125.11.6

  Appropriations

  “Price of gas gone right up again. Dese days seems like drivin’s costin’ me more ’n eatin’.”

  . . .

  “Well, one ting, they’ve got that new boy workin’ the pumps. I calls ’im me Gas Rookie.”

  . . .

  “Dat boy’s prettier dan Bill de electrician.”

  . . .

  “Anyways, don’t figure I’ve got much of a chance wid ’im.”

  . . .

  “Too old I am, more’s de pity.”

  . . .

  “Dey’s foolin’ wid our nerves over at the gas station, don’t ya tink?”

  126.15.3

  Unidentified Monologues

  The Montessuy Lyon Colour Chart is a cloth pouch that unfolds into 480 coloured binder samples. Seven panels are composed of two columns of 16 colours each; the eighth panel explains the chart along the length of a final column of 16 colours. The Chart distinguishes the colou
r cream (no. 1603) from the colour crème (no. 1604), the colour pink (no. 1606) from the colour rose (no. 1607) and the colour sky (no. 1614) from the colour azur (no. 1615). The many typos in the names and numbering of the colours are what lends the Chart a certain artisenal cachet.

  127.21.9

  More or Less Useful Details

  It’s not always easy to know when one is justified in creating new old words. The French expression quoi c’que meaning what is it that for example, is a contraction of quoi c’est que, which is pronounced and written in simpler form in Acadia as quoisse que (and might be rendered in English as wot’s dat den). However, this last version appears neither in Pascal Poirier’s Glossaire acadien (Acadian Glossary), nor in Yves Cormier’s Dictionnaire du français acadien (Dictionary of Acadian French). The Poirier volume does however include the words for where: ousque and yousque instead of où est-ce que and y où est-ce que. One might be similarly justified in including ayousque, which is equally common in Acadian speech and clearly derived from à y où est-ce que. In that case, why not quoisque and, for proper Sunday speech, quesque? The quoisse would continue to exist as a way to contract the que. Clearly, the same rule ought to apply to qui.

  “Makes no nevermind wot you say, it’s only a whole lot more rules. And who is it’s goin’ to make sure ’t all makes sense?”

  “Does we even have de right to screw around wid French like dat?”

  128.30.10

  Chiac

  Twelve cubed (i.e., 12³, or 12 × 12 × 12) seems to evoke an ample and durable plenitude, more than 12 multiplied merely once by itself (12², or 12 × 12). The idea of 1,728 fragments, rather than 144, promises a definite breadth and strength.

  129.12.2

  Structure

  Music played an important role in the Babar’s success. Carmen and Josse had asked several talented disc jockeys and other musical connaisseurs to tape several hundred hours of music for those evenings when they had no live music. New compilations were constantly being added. Most of the DJs offered their services without charge.