"Arts, Faculty of"@en . "French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "McNairn, Laura Jean"@en . "2010-09-11T17:09:30Z"@en . "1989"@en . "Master of Arts - MA"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "During the forties, when Anne Hubert was writing the poems of Le Tombeau des rois Quebec writers and critics (most of whom were male) were consumed by the oppression of the Duplessis era. Hubert's cousin, Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau felt so greatly the pressure to live a life defined by the Other, that his pain not only produced great anguish, but inspired very notable poetry. His metaphor of the French Canadian as a caged bird resurfaces in Hubert's work. In fact, the motif of the bird appears throughout Le Tombeau des rois. The bird as a guide, although blinded, leads the heroine to the place where she must confront death: the tomb. The tomb or cave is, however, not only the place of death, but also of rebirth. The tomb becomes the \"womb\" of the Mother where sisters and brothers are reborn. Images of sacrifice, of rebirth, reappear constantly in women's literature and mythology. The aim of this thesis is to reinterpret these motifs and others found in Anne Hubert's poetry. It is part of the feminist project to revise the mythology of Patriarchy so that women and women's writing might be 'read' authentically. This approach is an attempt to break down the critical walls which have defined Anne Hubert in a closed, patriarchal way.\r\nAnne Hubert was writing while the oppressive forces of the Catholic Church suffocated women and men who were desperately searching out their own identity. Women were defined as either \"mothers\" or \"virgins\". Mothers had the responsability to maintain the French language and culture, while unmarried women, were burdened with the guilt of their \"evil sex\"; women were metaphorically stripped of their flesh so as not to be \"temptresses\". In Le Tombeau des rois, the heroine is torn between being the \"good girl\" and breaking free from the \"house\" which has confined her. Other women writers express the same struggle in their texts. I have attempted to search out some of the images and motifs which connect Anne Hubert to modern women writers, to pick up an intertextual thread which weaves through these texts and connects Hubert's own texts. By making these connections, I have attempted to highlight a hidden subtext, an \"ucriture au fuminin\" which has been concealed by the dominant criticism of of her work. Traditional critics of Anne Hubert's poems and prose have agreed that this woman has played an important role in the struggle for national identity. That is one interpretation. I have emphasized that women have been doubly exploited, and that Hubert's struggle towards the \"feminine\" has been hidden beneath the surface of traditional criticism. To crack the calm surface of the status quo, to dive down into the deep, unmapped waters, to follow the thread back to the \"womb\", is to accompany this author on her quest in Le Tombeau des rois."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/28436?expand=metadata"@en . "ANNE HEBERT'S LE TOMBEAU DES ROIS: A FEMINIST READING By LAURA JEAN MCNAIRN B.A., The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1983 B.C. Teacher's C e r t i f i c a t e , The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1984 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of French) We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the r e q u i r e d standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1989 0 Laura Jean McNairn, 1989. In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this' thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date DE-6 (2/88) A B S T R A C T During the f o r t i e s , when Anne H6bert was w r i t i n g the poems of Le Tombeau des r o l s f Quebec w r i t e r s and c r i t i c s (most of whom were male) were consumed by the oppr e s s i o n of the Du p l e s s i s e r a . Hubert's c o u s i n , Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau f e l t so g r e a t l y the pressure to l i v e a l i f e d e f i n e d by the Other, t h a t h i s pain not on l y produced great anguish, but i n s p i r e d v e r y notable p o e t r y . His metaphor of the French Canadian as a caged b i r d r e s u r f a c e s i n Hubert's work. In f a c t , the motif of the b i r d appears throughout Le Tombeau des r o i s . The b i r d as a guide, although b l i n d e d , leads the heroine to the pla c e where she must c o n f r o n t death: the tomb. The tomb or cave i s , however, not on l y the pl a c e of death, but a l s o of r e b i r t h . The tomb becomes the \"womb\" of the Mother where s i s t e r s and br o t h e r s are reborn. Images of s a c r i f i c e , of r e b i r t h , reappear c o n s t a n t l y i n women's l i t e r a t u r e and mythology. The aim of t h i s t h e s i s i s to r e i n t e r p r e t these m o t i f s and others found i n Anne Hubert's poetr y . I t i s p a r t of the f e m i n i s t p r o j e c t to r e v i s e the mythology of P a t r i a r c h y so th a t women and women's w r i t i n g might be 'read' a u t h e n t i c a l l y . T h i s approach i s an attempt to break down the c r i t i c a l w a l l s which have d e f i n e d Anne H6bert i n a c l o s e d , p a t r i a r c h a l way. Anne Hubert was w r i t i n g while the oppressive f o r c e s of the C a t h o l i c Church s u f f o c a t e d women and men who were d e s p e r a t e l y i i s e a r c h i n g out t h e i r own i d e n t i t y . Women were d e f i n e d as e i t h e r \"mothers\" or \" v i r g i n s \" . Mothers had the r e s p o n s a b i l i t y to m a i n tain the French language and c u l t u r e , while unmarried women, were burdened with the g u i l t of t h e i r \" e v i l sex\"; women were m e t a p h o r i c a l l y s t r i p p e d of t h e i r f l e s h so as not to be \"temptresses\". In Le Tombeau des r o i s , the heroine i s t o r n between being the \"good g i r l \" and breaking f r e e from the \"house\" which has c o n f i n e d her. Other women w r i t e r s express the same s t r u g g l e i n t h e i r t e x t s . I have attempted t o search out some of the images and m o t i f s which connect Anne Hubert to modern women w r i t e r s , to pic k up an i n t e r t e x t u a l thread which weaves through these t e x t s and connects Hubert's own t e x t s . By making these connections, I have attempted t o h i g h l i g h t a hidden s u b t e x t , an \" 6 c r i t u r e au f6 m i n i n \" which has been concealed by the dominant c r i t i c i s m of of her work. T r a d i t i o n a l c r i t i c s of Anne Hubert's poems and prose have agreed t h a t t h i s woman has played an important r o l e i n the s t r u g g l e f o r n a t i o n a l i d e n t i t y . That i s one i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . I have emphasized t h a t women have been doubly e x p l o i t e d , and th a t Hubert's s t r u g g l e towards the \"feminine\" has been hidden beneath the s u r f a c e of t r a d i t i o n a l c r i t i c i s m . To crack the calm s u r f a c e of the s t a t u s quo, to d i v e down i n t o the deep, unmapped waters, to f o l l o w the thread back to the \"womb\", i s to accompany t h i s author on her quest i n Le Tombeau des r o i s . i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS A b s t r a c t l i Acknowledgement v Epigraph v i I n t r o d u c t i o n 1 Notes 18 Chapter 1 22 S h a t t e r i n g the M i r r o r s ; F o l l o w i n g the Thread back to the Mother i n \"Le Tombeau des r o i s \" i . The Father's House: Breaking down the Walls 22 i i . To Eve Reborn: a Journey back to the Mother 34 i i i . Women's W r i t i n g : T e l l i n g the Truth 41 i v . Beyond C u l t u r e : the Other s i d e where S i s t e r s Chatter 48 v. D i v i n g i n t o the Wreck: D i s c o v e r i n g the Womb 58 Notes 63 Chapter 2 Out of the Womb: a Process of R e b i r t h 69 i . L i g h t : from P e n e t r a t i o n to R e s u r r e c t i o n 69 i i . Towards the Mother: an Act of % R e - t e l l i n g ' 75 i i i . The B i r d : the L i b e r a t i n g Agent 80 Notes 102 Co n c l u s i o n And Our S t o r v i s One 107 Notes 120 B i b l i o g r a p h y 122 i v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT W r i t i n g a t h e s i s i s indeed a c h a l l e n g e . Without the constant support of my f a m i l y and f r i e n d s , I would have not s u r v i v e d as w e l l as I have these l a s t two y e a r s . I would l i k e to thank e s p e c i a l l y my mother, Beth, who was always t h e r e , always, i n every way imaginable. My s i s t e r Heather and her husband A l l a n , c o n s t a n t l y c u r i o u s about my \"progress\", g e n t l y nudged me towards my goal when I needed i t the most. My brother Ken, whose admirable p a t i e n c e and computer s k i l l s made t h i s t h e s i s p o s s i b l e , appeared, at a moment's n o t i c e , and l e d me out of the chaos I had e i t h e r c r e a t e d or, of which I was a v i c t i m . Ken's wife Susan always l i s t e n e d i n t e n t l y , asked earnest q u e s t i o n s , and showed genuine i n t e r e s t i n my t h e s i s . For a l l of these t h i n g s , I am t r u l y g r a t e f u l . I must a l s o thank my l a t e f a t h e r , Ian, i n whose memory I d e d i c a t e t h i s t h e s i s . The e x t r a o r d i n a r y support of my r e l a t i v e s and f r i e n d s never f a i l e d to buoy me up a t those c r u c i a l moments. I thank them a l l , and e s p e c i a l l y M a r i l y n and Pat T h o r s t e i n s s o n , without whose love and f r i e n d s h i p I would have indeed found these two years d i f f i c u l t . I would, of course, give great thanks to my a d v i s o r , V a l e r i e Raoul, who under gr e a t time p r e s s u r e , managed to read and r e -read, to suggest, i n very s p e c i f i c ways, what needed to be done. Her enthusiasm, never daunted by untimely v i s i t s , helped me to keep up my momentum and good s p i r i t s . Thank you a l l . v But there come times-perhaps t h i s i s one o\u00C2\u00A3 them-when we have to take o u r s e l v e s more s e r i o u s l y or d i e ; when we have t o p u l l back from the i n c a n t a t i o n s , rhythms we've moved t o t h o u g h t l e s s l y , and d i s e n t h r a l l o u r s e l v e s , bestow o u r s e l v e s to s i l e n c e , or a severer l i s t e n i n g , cleansed of o r a t o r y , formulas, choruses, laments, s t a t i c crowding the wi r e s . . . But i n f a c t we were always l i k e t h i s , r o o t l e s s , dismemebered: knowing i t makes the d i f f e r e n c e . B i r t h s t r i p p e d our b i r t h r i g h t from us, t o r e us from a woman, from women, from o u r s e l v e s so e a r l y on and the whole chorus t h r o b b i n g at our ears l i k e midges, t o l d us not h i n g , nothing of o r i g i n s , nothing we needed to know, nothing t h a t c o u l d re-member us... Homesick f o r myself, f o r her... \"Transcendental Etude\" Adrienne R i c h I n t r o d u c t i o n During the 1940s, when Anne Hubert was writing the poems included in the volume Le Tombeau des r o i s r the epicentre of French Canada was what Denis Moniere terms a \"nationalisme de survivance qui consistait a defendre des droits acquis, a preserver la religion catholique et la langue frangaise.\"l Until the Quiet Revolution, the family was not only the centre of this culture, but also the key to maintaining and developing the culture's identity. Marie Couillard notes that the father/husband of the family had been given an \"autorit6 consacree par l'Eglise et 16gitim6e par le Code c i v i l \" , 2 whereas the mother/wife was accorded a certain prestige by being \"l'&me, le coeur, le noeud vital.\"3 As Paula Gilbert Lewis points out in T r a d i t i o n a l i s m , . N a t i o n a l i s m and Feminism,, the patriarchal society dominated by the Catholic Church had \"traditionally imposed upon women the role of guardians of francophone culture, that i s , of religion and of the French language, i t s e l f guardian of the faith.\"4 As a result, women's reality became enclosed \"within the literary archetype of the all-powerful mother, resigned to her destiny\"(ibjjjj.) of being a faithful servant to man and God and the bearer of those children who would continue the search for a solid national 1 i d e n t i t y . P a t r i c i a smart reminds us that through t h i s \"revanche des berceaux\" the c l e r i c s b e l i e v e d t h a t French Canada could e s t a b l i s h a strong i d e n t i t y and autonomy.5 The c l e r i c s and h i s t o r i a n s of the past were aware of the gradual a s s i m i l a t i o n of the French Canadians by E n g l i s h Canada. The E a r l of Durham had claimed i n 1839 t h a t t h i s was \"un peuple sans h i s t o i r e n i l i t t e r a t u r e \" 6 , a remark which caused h i s t o r i a n Frangois-Xavier Garneau and many others to f i g h t f o r t h e i r s u r v i v a l through a p p r o p r i a t i n g t h e i r own language and v a l o r i z i n g t h e i r c u l t u r e . In 1867, the poet Octave Cremazie b e l i e v e d that i f French Canadians spoke a language that was t h e i r s o n l y , and not some poor r e p l i c a of another, then perhaps they might break free from t h e i r imprisonment: Ce qui manque au Canada, c'est d'avoir une langue a l u i . S i nous p a r l i o n s i r o q u o i s ou huron, notre l i t t e r a t u r e v i v r a i t . Malheureusement nous parlons et ecrivons d'une assez piteuse fagon, i l e s t v r a i , l a langue de Bossuet et de Racine. Nous avons beau d i r e et beau f a i r e , nous ne serons t o u j o u r s , au poi n t de vue l i t t e r a i r e , qu'une simple c o l o n i e . 7 L o r r a i n e Weir r e f e r s to Michele Lalonde's poem 'Speak white' as an example of the dilemma of the c o l o n i z e d w r i t e r who must l e a r n the language of another t o be \" v i s i b l e w i t h i n the dominant paradigm\".8 This i s the Quebecois experience, and Weir suggests that i t i s a l s o woman's; tha t she i s the underground w r i t e r \"who l i v e s w i t h i n a c u l t u r e whose v o i c e and 2 language can never be authentic f o r her.\" To speak white, to speak man, i s \"to be consumed by i t . N ( l M i L ) According to Weir, women have been \"defined out\" of the masculine paradigm and can only enter i n t o i t by \"being compromised, perhaps destroyed\" and instead of being l i b e r a t e d by t h i s compromise, they experience \"an i n t r o j e c t i o n of v i o l e n c e i n t o the s e l f . \" 9 In the mid 1800s, French Canadians, i n order not t o be \"defined out\", had to preserve the language of t h e i r ancestors as best they c o u l d , but were impeded by the E n g l i s h . The flow of c l e r g y was i n t e r r u p t e d and French t r a v e l l e r s were not allowed e n t r y to the colony.10 Gerard Tougas p o i n t s out that i t was not s u r p r i s i n g , as a r e s u l t , that French Canadian w r i t e r s , \"dont l a langue e t a i t menacee, cherchassent refuge dans l a t r a d i t i o n l i t t e r a i r e frangaise.\"11 By emulating French masters, by remembering the past, \" l e s poetes, l e s h i s t o r i e n s et l e s romanciers Canadians du XIXe s i e c l e auront f a i t p l u s gu'imiter des modeles f r a n ? a i s : i l s se seront trouves en eux.\"12 To be de f i n e d by another, to be other than o n e s e l f , became unacceptable to some w r i t e r s and academics l i k e the h i s t o r i a n and c l e r i c l'abbe Groulx. In the beginning of the 20th century, Groulx a n t i c i p a t e d the p o s s i b i l i t y of never f i n d i n g a s p e c i f i c i t y of the French Canadian i d e n t i t y l 3 ; t h i s a n x i e t y foreshadowed the rage which was to explode i n the 60s. Anne 3 Hebert screamed out i n 1963, i n \" F i n du monde\" from her poems inAdlfcg, \" j e s u i s l e c r i et l a b l e s s u r e , j e s u i s l a femme a ton f l a n c qu'on outrage et qu'on v i o l e . \" Along with others searching f o r t h e i r own v o i c e , Hebert b e l i e v e s i n \" l a s o l i t u d e rompue comme du pain par l a poesie.\" (PoAmas p. 71)14 W r i t i n g i s the only way not only to f i n d one's i d e n t i t y , but a l s o t o r e j e c t the v i o l a t i o n of the t y r a n t , that mysterious %on' who could be one of many oppressors. Gerard Tougas reminds us of one of the main sources of oppression w e l l ensconced i n French Canadian w r i t i n g . The i m i t a t i o n of French models had become \" l a source de l a mediocrite de l a l i t t e r a t u r e canadienne.\"15 To break that m i r r o r , which was r e f l e c t i n g a f a l s e and fragmented image back to the Quebec readers, became a goal of the French Canadian w r i t e r . To refuse to %speak white' or 'French', but to begin t o \" d e c r i r e l e Canada t e l q u ' i l { l ' a u t e u r ] l e voyait\"16, was to begin to speak as and f o r o n e s e l f . In 1931, Al b e r t P e l l e t i e r questioned how one can express oneself de f a j o n o r i g i n e l l e et viv a n t e dans une langue academique que nous ne parlons pas, que nous n'avons jamais pratiquee que dans l e s l i v r e s ? C'est imposer a nos e c r i v a i n s 1 ' o b l i g a t i o n ...de rendre ce q u ' i l s v o i e n t , eprouvent, ressentent de neuf et de s i n g u l i e r , par des souvenirs l i v r e s q u e s . . . E t s i notre p a t o i s devient t r o p d i f f i c i l e aux academiciens, eh bi e n , t a n t mieux; c'est que nous aurons une langue a nous...Si l e s Fran?ais veulent nous l i r e , l i s nous t r a d u i r o n t , comme l i s t r a d u i s e n t l a l i t t e r a t u r e provengalel7. L i k e P e l l e t i e r , other w r i t e r s began searching not f o r a l o s t 4 voice but f o r a voice that had never been t h e i r s , f o r t h e i r own tongue; f o r a language which would express t h e i r own r e a l i t y and not \"des b a r i o l a g e s Cet] une l i t t e r a t u r e de pales r e f l e t s \" . 1 8 A f t e r the Second World War p r i n c i p l e s , morals and r e l i g i o n a l l had t o undergo r e v i s i o n l 9 . Pernand Dumont remarks that French Canadians found themselves f r o z e n i n a n e u t r a l spot; un \"point zero entre l e passe et l ' a v e n i r \" 2 0 from which they could look back at the \" v i e i l l e s n o s t a l g i e s muettes et [&] l ' u t o p i e de l ' a v e n i r . \" 2 1 Dumont's emphasis on speaking, on breaking the s i l e n c e and r i d d i n g oneself of e a r l i e r *balbutiements\u00E2\u0080\u00A222 i s a common thread which has been weaving through Quebec l i t e r a t u r e s i n c e the War. In 1948, with the p u b l i c a t i o n of the manifesto Rafua g l o b a l f there was an e x p l o s i o n of r e b e l l i o n a g a i n s t the past, a r e f u s a l of a h i s t o r y which had s t e r i l i z e d , ordered and muted French Canadians. Under the l e a d e r s h i p of Paul-Emile Borduas, t h i s p u b l i c a t i o n was to be the c a t a l y s t to \" e c l a t e r l e s cadres t r a d i t i o n n e l s de l a poesie canadienne.\"23 Guy Robert, notes that the i n d i v i d u a l , empowered by the c o l l e c t i v e , began to have the force to \"se debarasser de tous l e s c o l o n i s a t e u r s qui l u i ptsent\"24. Fernand O u e l l e t t e speaks of r e b i r t h , as w e l l as of \"un r e f u s de l a v i e souterraine\"25, of a n i g h t or darkness which had s u f f o c a t e d the French Canadian, and kept him from f i n d i n g h i s true voice and speaking h i s own experience. 5 women writers in Quebec shared this experience of oppression, and tentatively began to reveal the history of their own oppression whose roots are deeply embedded in the powerful forces of the Church. Catholic doctrines had imposed Nune religion qui dompte la chair N26 and demanded quiet, obedient submission to God and to man. And yet, in early writing, women writers were beginning to test the boundaries of their oppression. Patricia Smart remarks that women were relegated to the status of being \"other\"; bound by their patriarchally defined role of \"mere mythique\", and excluded from the patriarchal lineage of God the Father to God the Son27, they began to whisper their secrets to each other. This 'bavardage' between women is an exchange of words which does not necessarily lead to a final signification, to closure or even to sense. This burbling, a %balbutiement\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 amongst themselves, this \"foule de riens feminins\" surfaces in Laure Conan's Angellne de Montbrun (1884).28 It proved impossible, though, to escape totally from the powers which had defined women as muted, submissive creatures. As in the case of Hebert and Conan, women exhibited, in their writing and in their heroines, a tension between being the good, quiet, l i t t l e g i r l and a woman screaming her rage. The pull in two directions is evident in Conan's choice of wording in AngAline. in one instance, Conan's revision from the original edition reveals her awareness of the Church's power over her. The author yields to this power and changes an image of God's breaking her 6 to one of God's grace of silence. Laurent Mailhot notes the change: \"'Puisque Dieu a commence qu'il acheve de me briser' (edition originale) sera remplace par...*Dieu m'a f a i t cette grace de ne jamais murmurer.'\"29 Woman has been silenced since her beginnings. This silence had been imposed long before the silencing of the French Canadians. According to Frances Beer, woman has been morally crippled and made mute by the dominant powers since Eve's disobedience to God. Woman has been perceived as temptress, as \"janua diaboli\" or devil's gateway, since the days of Jerome, Anthony and Augustine30. Her identity has been defined by men. Temptress and witch or virgin and princess have been women's alternative roles, isolated or burned i f the one, and stripped of flesh and passion i f the other. Woman was defined in the Middle Ages by clerics like Andreas Capellanus, as \"a l i a r , a drundar, a babbler, no keeper of secrets, too much given to wantonness, prone to every evil\"31. And having believed this, woman has become silent, has entered, Madeleine Gagnon remarks, \"dans les regies du jeu de nos conquerants; nous les avons mime aimes, ces regies et ces conquerants et nous les aimons encore\"32. Gilles Marcotte interprets Conan's \"style de couventine\" as having 'played the game'. The muted voice, however, reveals \"l'abime du desespoir\" and \"la grande clarte du desabusementN33. Marcotte explains that this \"neant\", this \"dereliction\" in which Angeline is confined is the result of 7 \" 1 ' i n t e r d i c t i o n p a r f a i t e et absolue\" of the f a t h e r s who \"forment ecran devant l a v i e a v i v r e , devant l e present [...et] t i r e n t a eux toute l ' e x i s t e n c e d i s p o n i b l e \" 3 4 . The f a t h e r creates t h i s \"abtme\" i n t o which the daughter s l i d e s and where she remains mute, absent. Metaphorical cages - the c i t y , an apartment, a subway, a cave, the e a r t h , her body, a house -heroines, present and past, have been caught i n these p a t r i a r c h a l c o n s t r u c t s . To break free from them has been an on-going, f r u s t r a t i n g s t r u g g l e , that f o r each woman alone has been a seemingly impossible task. i n her r e c e n t l y published book B e r t i e dans l a malaon du pAre, P a t r i c i a Smart suggests that i n women's w r i t i n g there begins \"une tran s f o r m a t i o n dans l a s t r u c t u r e de l a Maison du Pare [...] apportee par une anergic\". This energy perhaps f i n d s i t s source i n the \"rapprochement [qu i ] s'est e f f e c t u e entre l e s personnages feminina - f i l l e s et mere, soeurs, amies ou amantes\"35. The phenomenon of women speaking w i t h women, breaking the s i l e n c e , and thus s h a t t e r i n g the Father's house, was but a weak tremor when Conan was w r i t i n g . Madeleine Oagnon notes t h a t women caught i n t h i s p r i s o n , \"n'avaient pas bien des choi x : meres ou put a i n s ; ou vi e r g e s ou f o l l e s \" 3 6 . The Church and p a t r i a r c h y had defined t h i s r e a l i t y f o r Conan, as f o r French w r i t e r s such as C o l e t t e , Sand and other s . But even so def i n e d , they wrote. \"Nonnes ou f o l l e s . Lueurs en tous cas. Quelques v o i x se sont i n s c r i t e s malgre tout - hors t r a d i t i o n -8 dans l ' h i s t o i r e [...June h i s t o i r e a d t t e r r e r , a d e c h i f f r e r . \" 3 7 To reread, to b r i n g back these \"a!eules e c r i v a i n e s \" i s , f o r Oagnon, to be part of them, to expose a \"tra c e de v i e \" ( l b l d . ) which connects us with our foremothers, a *\u00C2\u00A3il' which weaves woman's h i s t o r y , woman's s t o r y , together i n t o a new p a t t e r n of the l i g h t and dark which women have experienced then and now. This her i t a g e has to be brought to the centre of the t a p e s t r y from the margins, s h a t t e r i n g the o l d s t o r i e s and t e l l i n g new ones. The goal i s to break free from what Marcotte d e f i n e s as \" l a femme-ideale et l a femme-peche, l ' o r g i e et l e c i e l bleu\"38, to r e j e c t \" l a Sagesse\", the image of a \"terre-mere\" who \"dispense en abondance...la n o u r r i t u r e \" , but whom men must possess and conquer39. Anne Hebert i s among the heritage of women's vo i c e s to be evaluated, and was h e r s e l f expressing a r e - e v a l u a t i o n of the feminine. A women speaking to women, yet caught i n Quebec's s t r u g g l e to f i n d i t s own v o i c e , she wrote the poems of Le. Tombeau des r o l s during the decade which precedes i t s p u b l i c a t i o n i n 1953. The 40s were years of change. Mailhot notes t h a t male w r i t e r s , l i k e Hubert's cousin Saint-Denys Garneau, A l a i n Grandbois, Gaston Miron, Roland Giguere, and Gatien Lapointe, were breaking syntax, u p s e t t i n g the l i n e a r and the c h r o n o l o g i c a l , searching out c o n t r a s t s and oxymorons which would \"Derouter, dtpayser, d e f i g u r e r , puis r e t a b l i r l ' h o r i z o n , retrouver l e centre\"40. Or, suggests Miron, they would 9 \"reprendre quelque chose de deteriore; ramasser la paille qui a servi a proteger les champs de la gelee, mais qui peut encore servlr\"41. in L ' H Q I B M rapaine, Miron see writers (most of whom were men) caught between \"la volonte d'ecrire et la necessity de parler, entre la celebration et le combat\". It was in this era that poets were beginning to create a poetry which was \"asymetrique, d*chire\"42. Needing to shout out their oppression, which the Church had imposed, these men f i n a l l y began to exhibit, in their writing, their fragmented souls. In the 60s Paul Chamberland, in Terre Quebec ('64), produced a poetry which Mailhot describes as \"raturee, brisee, pi*tin*e\"43. The c r i t i c remarks that Yves Therlault, in Cul- de-sac ( f61), wrote \"en lignes bristes et en spirale ...construit sur le vertige - la composition (discours delirant, fragment*...) est elle-mftme une crevasse, comme celle oft agonise le heros-victime w44. Chamber land interpreted lojiai as a \"sous-langue\" which symbolised \"la langue en partie defaite d'un peuple defait\". The use of 1oual r shared by this fragmented people, symbolically attempted to \"tuer en soi le colonise.\"45 And yet, Anne Hebert has always written in impeccable French. How can her poetry be situated in relation ot the emergence of iconoclastic, nationalist texts? Clement Moisan describes Hubert's poetry as the expression of an interieur solitude which recounts this \"drame collectif\"46 of French Canadians. He claimed that Hebert is 10 caught in a dream, subjected to a magical force to which \"comme le faucon aveugle du 'Tombeau des Rois', elie se soumet, elie accepte dans cette descente au tombeau d'aller a la rencontre du rtel\"47. Moisan reminds his readers that Hebert and others at that time had been trapped in what Giguere called \"La Grande ttoirceur\", during the Duplessis regime (1936-60)48. Poets and artists trying to find expression for their oppression in new art forms were pushed underground, situated in the margins. Paul-Emile Borduas and others involved with the 1948 publication of Refus global found themselves searching desperately for a light, while cloaked in darkness. Giguere explains that for the poets of the 50s, for this collective \"nous\", \" i l y avalt quelque chose de clandestin...Nous etions un peu comme des taupes qui creusions un tunnel vers la lumiere...Sans public, sans galerie, sans editeur, sans rien d'autre qu'une belle et jeune revolte, nous avions tout a faire et nous faisions tout\"49. The resemblance of this metaphor of the poet to Hebert's \"faucon aveugle\" (P_, 61) making i t s way through the darkness of the tomb, glimpsing that \"reflet d'aube\" (R,63), is hard to ignore. Madeleine Gagnon notes that women have also been pushed underground, that woman's speech, her language \"est a. reperer dans un hors-texte encore in-defini, dans les marges de la page...hors du discours repere et connu {...) Une non tradition.\"50 She claims that there is \"une histoire a 11 d e t e r r e r , & d e c h i f f r e r \" 5 1 ; t h i s i m p l i e s a \" r e h a b i l i t a t i o n \" , a \"re-centrement\" as women must deconstruct man's p r o j e c t i o n s of woman as w e l l as e f f e c t i n g a \" r e s u r r e c t i o n de nos mortes mal lues\"52. The p a r a l l e l i s obvious between the French Canadian and the woman, both having been jammed i n t o the margins, or underground, both searching f o r t h e i r own v o i c e , t h e i r own language, both f i g h t i n g the oppression of the Church. Hebert, speaking i n the feminine through her female heroine, t o both the female and male reader, has been i n t e r p r e t e d , f o r the most p a r t , from the male p e r s p e c t i v e , from the pe r s p e c t i v e of the oppressed French Canadian. But male French Canadian s c h o l a r s are part of the p a t r i a r c h a l t r a d i t i o n which has de f i n e d woman and her w r i t i n g from o u t s i d e , maintaining a myth which ignores woman's r e a l i t y as she might have experienced i t , l e a v i n g i t out or misrepresenting i t . Perhaps the confusion i s because men speak a d i f f e r e n t language. Barbara Godard suggests t h a t to men, women's speech i s \"non-sense\" because i t i s outside the language of p a t r i a r c h y , the language of l o g i c and of male experience. The f l u x , the s h i f t i n g connections, a r t i c u l a t e d , not i n f u l l sentences, but i n s h o r t , e l l i p t i c suspended fragments, are women's experiences53. In reference to Daphne M a r l a t t ' s w r i t i n g , Godard expresses the w r i t e r ' s attempt t o r e s i s t c l o s u r e , and any one a u t h e n t i c a t i n g signature54. Hebert's male c r i t i c s not only i n t e r p r e t her language as t h e i r own, but analyse with great s c r u t i n y and f i n a l i t y the images and motifs the poet presents. The language, the experiences 12 and the myths belonging to patriarchy, until after the Quiet Revolution, drowned the struggle of women in the national struggle; men and women together were a colonized people who have together been oppressed by religious and p o l i t i c a l authority. It is a myth which, Christl Verduyn suggests, has been challenged since the 1950s55. Woman has been presented as Eve, the temptress, but is expected to act like the Virgin, a male mandate which is contradictory and \"generates a schizophrenic state of aff a i r s , to be explored (and rejected) by women writers\"56. This self-doubling, representing s e l f -estrangement, is widespread in the works of Quebec and English-Canadian women writers57. According to Verduyn, \"The motif of the Double dominates the novels and poetry of Anne Hebert\"58. Where the narrator is pushed to the extreme, \"the double borders on dislncarnation, the negation not only of the inner self but especially of the outer, physical self . This [is a] typically Hebertian theme\"(ibM.). The physical self, the body, becomes fragmented and must be repossessed59. Nicole Brossard explains that for man, writing is a means to \"retrouver son corps\", whereas for women, \"ecrire consists a decoller de son corps, a liberer de son propre corps...tout l'appareil de caracterlstiques physiques et psychiques que l'hornme l u i impose pour s'assurer un meilleur 13 usage d'elle H60. Women must, then, shatter this male construct that they see in the mirror, as Margaret Atwood suggests. Woman as a Subject cannot be a reflection of the role she has played in society, in the famlly61. Verduyn claims that woman's alienation from her body, from herself, is the reflection of woman as Object in the eyes of the Other,62 echoing Simone de Beauvoir's famous definition of the feminine as essentially Other, non-Subject. Jennifer Waelti-Walters describes the typical heroine as playing the princess. She is passive, long-suffering and patient because someday she will be saved by a prince63. The heroine lives outside her desires, since she has been taught that good women have no right to self-generated desire. The image she reflects is one of woman as virginal, absent, dependent, silent64. What li e s boiling beneath the surface of this image, behind the fl a t mirror reflection, is another story, what Weir call s a \"subtext\", which \" l i e s submerged, the camouflage effective\"65: i t is woman's story, woman's rage. Hebert stated in an interview with Marci McDonald that her \"violence is authentic. I don't invent i t . It must exist within me. I'm very conscious of i t now - and surprised too. Of course I could write gently [...] Instead, i t comes out rarely in l i f e , only in my writing. But I must have accumulated such rage.\"66 Hebert does not seem to be aware of her rage until after i t has been pointed out to her, but Weir suggests 14 that authors are not always fu l l y aware of the hidden message, the subtext, sealed to a l l who have not yet learned to read; to a l l but a particular \"interpretive community\", the term Weir borrows from Stanley Fish67. Anne Hubert might or might not be part of a particular feminist interpretive community. While writing Le Tombeau des ro l s f the poet was engulfed in a cultural context which not only demanded that the great writers of the time *write 1/ 'speak' their oppression, but that they do so in a new way that shattered the coherent, linear text which had constituted writing for their foremothers and fathers. To break the code of the hierarchy, to speak 'his' own language, was the intent of the French Canadian searching for that new identity later to be called 'Quebtcois'. Htbert was the female counterpart in this struggle, and the subtext lying below the surface of her text of national identity is a watermark, what Malr Verthuy calls a \"filigrane\"68, whose faint design marks and identifies woman. There is no doubt that Anne Hubert played an integral role in the rebellion against the Catholic Church. The stranglehold of the Jansenists had indeed been choking the l i f e from a l l French Canadians. Le Toabeau des rols was written in the context of paternalistic and hierarchical oppression and Hebert's c r i t i c s were quick to interpret her poetic images and 15 motifs within that context. The search for a voice, a language, a name that was one's own, was the goal of the French Canadian. Hebert cracked open the walls which enclosed, she shattered the silence which denied, and she entered on a quest, not just for herself, but for the collective \"nous\", for a l l Quebecois. And yet, Anne Hebert is not just a Quebecker, but as well, a woman. Women in Quebec were becoming more and more aware of their oppression; the distinction between their oppression as Quebecois and as women was beginning to surface in very apparent ways. The v o i c i n g of t h i s double e x p l o i t a t i o n i n prose and p o e t r y began t o ch a l l e n g e i n new ways the powers of t r a d i t i o n , of the Church, of P a t r i a r c h y . Hebert, a woman speaking through the v o i c e of a female n a r r a t o r t o 'mankind' and to 'womankind', to Quebecois and to Quebecoises, uses images and m o t i f s i n Le Tombeau fleg r o j g which c a r r y m u l t i p l e meanings and c o n n o t a t i o n s . In my re a d i n g , I w i l l be drawing together some of these m u l t i p l e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s of male and female c r i t i c s , of f e m i n i s t s and no n - f e m i n i s t s and i n t e g r a t i n g them with my own f e m i n i s t e x p l o r a t i o n s . Rather than o b j e c t i v e l y a n a l y s i n g these images i n a s y s t e m a t i c , poem by poem examination, I w i l l be f o l l o w i n g the n a r r a t o r on her quest to f i n d her o r i g i n a l i d e n t i t y ; t h i s feminine \" I \" makes the journey back to the \"womb\" f o r a l l women, i n c l u d i n g the female reader. I w i l l attempt to show i n t e r t e x t u a l a s s o c i a t i o n s of 16 the o b s t a c l e s and t o o l s t h a t she comes a c r o s s d u r i n g t h i s journey with those found i n Hubert's l a t e r p o e t r y (\"Mystere de l a p a r o l e \" ) and prose (Kamouraska. Les Enfants du Sabbat and H61oise). Le Tombeau des r o l s seems to s e t the mould f o r a l l of Hebert's l a t e r work. Other i n t e r t e x t u a l l i n k s I w i l l e s t a b l i s h are with the images and mo t i f s found i n the t e x t s of other women. I n t e r e s t i n g l y , most of these women w r i t e r s are c r e a t i n g t e x t s many years a f t e r Le Tombeau i s p u b l i s h e d . The i n t e r t e x t u a l \" t h r e a d \" weaves backwards and forwards i n time, between Qu6b6coises and anglophone w r i t e r s . Adrienne R i c h c l a i m s t h a t \" B i r t h s t r i p p e d our b i r t h r i g h t from u s , / t o r e us from a woman, from women, from o u r s e l v e s \" , and that we know \"nothing/of o r i g i n s , nothing we needed/to know, nothing t h a t c o u l d re-member us\". \"Homesick f o r myself, f o r her\"69, bemoans R i c h , women must f i n d comfort with t h e i r s i s t e r s ; they must share t h i s e x p e r i e n c e , \" h e r s t o r y \" . The female reader of Anne Hubert, and the female c r i t i c of t h i s woman poet, are a l s o \"consoeurs\" i n t h i s \" h e r s t o r y \" . F o l l o w i n g the meandering i n t e r t e x t u a l \"thread\" of women's w r i t i n g , t h i s r e a d i n g of Le Tombeau des r o i s rubs a g a i n s t the g r a i n of l o g i c a l , o b j e c t i v e , academic, l i t e r a r y a n a l y s i s . Yet, to read and to i n t e r p r e t l i t e r a t u r e i n new, t r a n s f o r m i n g ways, i s to accept the \"unwritten\" i n v i t a t i o n t h a t perhaps, even u n w i t t i n g l y , the w r i t e r o f f e r s to h e r / h i s r e a d e r s . I have accepted such an i n v i t a t i o n to f o l l o w the heroine through the 17 depths of the cave, on the search which, as C h r i s t i n e Downing suggests, w i l l l e a d us to Her, the Goddess, and thus back to ou r s e l v e s and to other women70. And perhaps i t i s then t h a t reader, c r i t i c , women and men can emerge transformed. Notes 1. Marie C o u i l l a r d , \"La Femme-ecrivain c a n a d i e n n e - f r a n $ a i s e et quebecoise face aux i d e o l o g i e s de son temps,\" Canadian E t h n i c S t u d i e s / E t u d e s e t h n l q u e s a u C a n a d a 13.1 (1981): 46. 2. C o u i l l a r d 48. 3. C o u i l l a r d 47. 4. Paula G i l b e r t Lewis, T r a d i t i o n a l i s m , N a t i o n a l i s m a n d Feminism,, ed. Paula G i l b e r t Lewis (Wesport: Greenwood P r e s s , 1985) 9. 5. P a t r i c i a smart, E c r l r e d a n s l a roalspn d u p e r e ; 1 ' e m e r g e n c e d u f e m l n l n d a n s l a t r a d i t i o n U t t S r a l r e d u Q u e b e c (Montreal: Quebec/Amerique, 1988) 30. 6. Guy Robert, L i t t e r a t u r e du Quebec: poesie a c t u e l l e (Montreal: Deom, 1970) 18. 7. Laurent M a i l h o t , Que s a i s - 1 e : l a l i t t e r a t u r e quebecoise ( P a r i s : Presses u n i v e r s i t a i r e s de France, 1974) 8. 8. L o r r a i n e Weir, \"Toward a F e m i n i s t Hermeneutics: Jay Macpherson's W e l c o m i n g D i s a s t e r / ' S y n o c r 1 t l e s / g y n o c r 1 t q u e s , ed. Barbara Godard (Toronto: ECW Pre s s , 1987) 63. 9. Weir 63. 10. Gerard Tougas, H i s t o i r e de l a l i t t e r a t u r e c a n a d l e n n e -f r a n y a i s e , 4ierne ed. ( P a r i s : Presses u n i v e r s i t a i r e s de France, 1967) 3. 11. Tougas 7. 12. Tougas 11. 13. Tougas 103. 18 14. Anne Hebert, Po6mes ( P a r i s : S e u i l , 1960) 71. A l l f u r t h e r r e f e r e n c e s to Anne Hebert's p o e t r y w i l l be taken from Po6mes and w i l l be noted a f t e r the q u o t a t i o n by R, and the page number, or by the page number alone when the r e f e r e n c e i s obvious. Poemes i s comprised of two s e t s of poems: \"Le Tombeau des r o i s \" and \"Mystere de l a p a r o l e \" (which c o n t a i n s a b r i e f work of prose, \"Poesie, s o l i t u d e rompue\"). References to the p o e t r y or prose i n \"Mystere\" w i l l be i n d i c a t e d w i t h i n i n the t e x t by t i t l e and then i n brackets by R, and the page number. Since Le Tombeau des r o i s i s the primary work c i t e d , i t should be assumed t h a t , unless i n d i c a t e d i n the t e x t , the q u o t a t i o n r e f e r s t o t h i s work i n Roj&m\u00C2\u00A3s_. Le Tombeau des r o i s c o n t a i n s the t i t l e poem, \"Le Tombeau des r o i s \" . The s e t of poems w i l l always be u n d e r l i n e d , whereas the poem w i l l be i n q u o t a t i o n marks. Other works by Anne Hebert to be c i t e d a r e : Kamouraska ( P a r i s : S e u i l , 1970), a b b r e v i a t e d as K., w i t h i n the t e x t ; Leg Enfants du Sabbat ( P a r i s : S e u i l , 1975), E_S_; Leg FQVlg de Bassan ( P a r i s : S e u i l , 1982), Efi; Le T o r r e n t (Montreal: Beauchemin, 1950), I ; H61oise ( P a r i s : S e u i l , 1980), H_. 15. Tougas 116. 16. Tougas 133. 17. A l b e r t P e l l e t i e r , Carquois (Montreal: L i b r a i r i e d ' A c t i o n c a n a d i e n n e - f r a n g a i s e , 1931) 23. 18. P i e r r e de Grandpre, H i s t o i r e de l a l i t t e r a t u r e fcangalge 3U Quebec H I (Montreal: Beauchemin, 1969) 8. 19. Grandpre 17. 20. Grandpre 20. 21. Grandpre 22. 22. Grandpre 22. 23. Tougas 152. 24. Robert 26. 25. Robert 224. 26. Tougas 160. 27. Smart, ESLLLLSL 30. 28. Smart, E c t I r e 26. 29. M a i l h o t 36. 19 30. from Frances Beer, \"the C o n t i n u i t y of Recluse to Bunny f\" Canadian Women's Female S t e r e o t y p e s : S t u d i e s 1.1 F a l l 1978: 40. 31. Beer 40. 32. Women Monique Roy, \"Femmage: Madeleine \u00E2\u0080\u00A2s S t u d i e s 1.1 F a l l 1978: 51. Gaqnon,\" Canadian 33. G i l l e s Marcotte. Une L i t t e r a t u r e qui se f a i t 2 (Montreal: HMH, 1962) 16. 34. Marcotte 17-18. 35. Smart,. E c r i r e 334. 36. Roy 51. 37. Roy 52. 38. Marcotte 25. 39. Marcotte 30. 40. M a i l h o t 74. 41. M a i l h o t 77. 42. Ma i l h o t 77. 43. Ma i l h o t 81. 44. Ma i l h o t 89. 45. Ma i l h o t 96. 46. element Moisan, \"Le Phenomene de l a p oesie dans l e Quebec contemporain (1945-1970),\" C u l t u r e p o p u l a i r e et l i t t e r a t u r e au Quebec, d i r . Rene Bouchard (Saratoga: Anma L i b r i , 1980) 128. 47. Moisan 128. 48. Moisan 131. 49. Moisan 131. 50. Madeleine Gagnon, \"Une T r a d i t i o n f 6 m i n i s t e en l i t t e r a t u r e ? , \" i n Conference des Femmes-ecrivains en Ameriaue. Revue de 1 ' U n i v e r s i t y d'Ottawa 50.1 janvier-mars 1980: 27. 51. Gagnon 28. 20 52. Gagnon 29. 53. Barbara Godard, \"'Body I ' : Daphne M a r l a t t ' s F e m i n i s t P o e t i c s , \" American Review of Canadian S t u d i e s 15.4 (1985): 483. 54. Godard, \"Body\" 489. 55. C h r i s t l Verduyn, \"From the 'Word on F l e s h 1 to the 'Flesh made Word': Women's F i c t i o n i n Canada,\" American Review of Canadian Studies 15.4 (1985): 449. 56. Verduyn 450. 57. Verduyn 452. 58. Verduyn 453. 59. Verduyn 456. 60. Verduyn 4 58. 61. Verduyn 460. 62. Verduyn 454. 63. J e n n i f e r W a e l t i - W a l t e r s , F a i r y T a l e s and the Female Imagination (Montreal: Eden Press, 1982) 11. 64. Wa e l t l - W a l t e r s 85. 65. Weir 66. 66. Marcl McDonald, \"Anne Hebert: P a r i s Is the Pl a c e to Chart Woman's Rage,\" C i t y Woman Sp r i n g 1981: 61. 67. Weir 66. 68. Mair Verthuy, \"Y a - t - i l une s p e c i f i c i t y de l ' e c r i t u r e f e minine?,\" Canadian Women's Stu d i e s 1.1 F a l l 1978: 76. 69. Adrienne R i c h , The Cream "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "10.14288/1.0097878"@en . "eng"@en . "French"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Anne Hebert's Le tombeau des rois"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28436"@en .