L'Avalée des avalés

So, obviously, I haven't continued to write reviews of Governor-General winners, but I have continued to read them. Some have been quite good, some have been less so, but I guess none have particularly struck me like Réjean Ducharme's L'Avalée des avalés, which won in 1966. I think this novel is one of the best and most challenging that I've ever read.

First, a note on language, I consider myself proficient, but notably not fluent in French. I can converse fairly comfortably. I can read generally fairly well, but I find it convenient to have a dictionary handy. That said, I am much more inclined to go with the flow rather than look up every word. So, everything I am writing should be taken within that context

This is an incredible novel and I still can't quite get my head around it. It tells the story via first person narrative of Bérénice Einberg, a young girl growing up in an abbey on an island. She hates both her parents (she believes that they hate her too, but that part is more open to interpretation) and feels alone. Her loneliness is one of the themes that underpin the novel. The narrative often veers from the philosophical to the fantastical to the mundane, which is part of what makes it so challenging. There is generally no segue either, so one has to read carefully, and it leads to questioning what has really happened within the context of the novel and what hasn't.

She reads classics and feels isolated from her peers. She is, to put it mildly, precocious, more accurately, a smart ass. When the police pick her and her brother up and ask for their address, she replies:

"Notre adresse, messieurs, c'est : Monsieur et Madame Homme, Planète Terre, Système solaire, Infini. Otez donc vos chapeaux, goujats !" (p. 159)

Likewise, when her father asks her accusingly what love is, she replies:

"Tu ne le sais donc pas, vieux comme tu es? C'est comme toi et ta maîtresse." (p. 177)

In between her witty retorts, she often expresses her loneliness and isolation from the world and society. Ducharme's prose expressed by Bérénice is magnificently rich and vivid. She often expresses how she's feeling or what she's thinking through deep, extended metaphors.

There are some fairly obvious parallels between L'avalée des avalés and Catcher in the Rye. Both Berénice Einberg and Holden Caulfield are rebellious, young protagonists who feel estranged from the world and are resentful towards adults. They are both written from a first person perspective with unreliable narrators. And to extend the similarities further, both Ducharme and Salinger were recluses. That said, although I have a soft spot in my heart for Cather in the Rye from my teenage years, I find L'avalée des avalés stands above through its rich literary style.

The novel was apparently originally refused publication in Québec (https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/329205/portrait-de-rejean-ducharme-a-70-ans) and has taken on something of a cult status (http://www.lapresse.ca/arts/livres/201608/25/01-5013921-livre-culte-lavalee-des-avales-de-rejean-ducharme.php). I can certainly see how it was controversial: the theme of rebelliousness, frank discussion of masturbation, criticism of religion, and some borderline incest: Bérénice is in love with her brother. While I wouldn't say that it ever takes on a serious, sexual dimension, there is certainly a lot of romantic language used (which Bérénice uses at least in part to make others uncomfortable and to get herself in trouble/isolate herself).

I've barely mentioned the plot, and that is intentional. First, I think this novel is more about feeling than events. Secondly, I think it's best experienced for yourself. Third, there is a degree of uncertainty in determining what actually happens and what Bérénice perceives to have happened. Most importantly, when I reflect back on what I enjoyed most about this novel, it's Bérénice as a character.

So, all of this is to say that I greatly enjoyed reading L'avalée des avalés and I highly recommend it.