Journal de voyage au Canada

Robert Laffont published this 1972 Michel Tournier journal in 1984.  It is difficult to take seriously.

The reason for publication: it pre-dates Les Météores (1975) and has a few notes on Le Roi des aulnes (1970) and Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage (1971).

Perhaps during the writing of the Tiffauges tale, Tournier missed Marital Law in Canada (the October Crisis.)  Jean Drapeau may not have mentioned it ( he had the 1976 Olympics on his mind.)  Where was Tournier when Charles De Gaulle called for a free Quebec («Vive le Québec libre ! ») in the summer of '67 ?

His editor lets him down repeatedly (see my review at amazon.ca) with examples such as "Times" for "Time Magazine" (pg 152.)

Had Tournier visited Lac St Jean, he might have heard a French somewhat closer to that of Normandy and seen something of "electricity" in rural Quebec before the James Bay projects.

Was he really not aware that The Bank of Montreal was also on Place d'Armes?

His ability to recognize "Eskimo" on the streets of Vancouver is very embarrassing.

But why ever is this journal still in print?  What merit is it supposed to have?

It is as unflattering a portrait of the author as it is of 1972 Canada.

Was it prior to 1984 that Marcel Brisebois interviewed Michel Tournier on "Rencontres"? My best guess is 1982 or 1983 (Glenn Gould dies in '82, Raymond Aron in '83.)  Brisebois became director of Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal  in 1985.  Was the interview conducted in France ?  Gilles et Jeanne was published in 1983.

The few pages on Kandinsky may be of interest.  There is one mention of Heidegger.

note: ISBN 0777701812, 9780777701812
Google Books link: digitized, but no preview (Canada, March, 2012.)

---

Philosophers, presence and disclosure

We are no longer confined to refer to the songs of the humpback whales: for some time it has been known that African elephants emit low frequency sound which travels long distance.

This is so much unlike smoke signals or flashing mirrors.

One imagines a foghorn when lost, a foghorn indicating the coast.  Or a alphorn resounding in a valley. Or a distant carillon.  But all of those are as signs of us or them, the others.

These elephants are not "beings", the philosopher tells us.  Bluecher's contemporary, Peter Geach, still speaks of "brutes" in his Mental Acts.

And now we have elephants known to pass the mirror test of self-recognition. Oh, but not a "self", of course. Even Richard Hughes in his Jamaica tale remains quite Cartesian.

It is as if Heidegger almost reaches the body: he speaks of the body, but he is limited to the voice, the hand. The hands of Hitler. The voice of Hitler. The unveiling of of his Hannah.

cp: Michel Tournier, in "Le Roi des Aulnes" - a book not listed as in Arendt's library.