Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Foreign Languages
Salem State University
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970
eblood@salemstate.edu
Review of : Beaupré, Normand. La Souillonne: Monologue sur scène. Coral Springs, FL : Llumina Press, 2006. ISBN 1595265554. Pp. 165. $12.95
La Souillonne is at once an homage to and a chronicle of the lives of women who, as the keepers of stories, have perpetuated Franco-American culture in the United States, a culture born in the working-class French-Canadian immigrant communities of New England. Beaupré, a French-speaking native of Maine, writes about the life of one woman, the Souillonne, who represents the experiences of many: “Elle est l’amalgame de toutes les femmes franco-américaines que j’ai rencontrées sur le parcours de ma vie.” (ii) By writing in Franco-American French, Beaupré also preserves a unique language spoken by descendants of the 900,000 French-speaking Canadians who immigrated to New England between 1840 and 1930. Beaupré offers his readers a Franco-American French/Standard French glossary to explain anglicisms and other terms unique to Franco-American speech, making this a valuable record of a disappearing dialect.
The character of the Souillonne first appears in a minor episode in Beaupré’s memoir Le Petit mangeur de fleurs (1999). The only fictional character in the memoir, the Souillonne is a middle-aged outcast who is shunned by the community and derided by the neighborhood children. Her nickname, derived from souiller or souillure, implies that she is both unclean and promiscuous. Locals believe her to be an alcoholic who lives with a man to whom she is not married and who does not conform to social norms of the Catholic Franco-American community. In the memoir, the narrator (Beaupré as a little boy) briefly encounters the Souillonne and learns that she is not a monster, but rather a lonely woman with a kind soul who has faced humiliation with dignity and humanity. In La Souillonne, Beaupré reprises this character and places her center-stage.
The monologue is a comprised of fourteen scenes in which the Souillonne, whose name we learn is Maybelle Sansoucis, tells her life story. Interwoven into her own personal narrative are stories about others in the community (friends, relatives, and neighbors) and about the community itself (traditions, beliefs, sayings, and daily routines). Through the course of the monologue, we learn about Maybelle’s immigration to the United States with her family, her work in the mill, and the great love of her life, Willé. We also hear stories about household chores, work, church, social gatherings, drinking habits, and explanations of jokes and common expressions like “la s’maine des quatre jeudis” (75) – something that will never happen (a week of four days with no chores).
The scenes are organized by theme, not following the events of Maybelle’s life chronologically, but we discover that, before a series of tragic events, she was once well integrated into society. Maybelle’s heart is broken when Willé is killed in an industrial accident, her father dies a drunk after the early deaths of her siblings, and she lives alone with her mother for twenty-three years. After the death of her mother, Maybelle befriends a man named Médée and the two decide to share an apartment out of convenience and economic necessity. They live a quiet life, sharing one beer each night, and keeping to themselves. Maybelle even stops attending church after being publicly shamed by her pastor, yet she still finds a way to appreciate her life and to remember the good in it.
Through the story of her life, and the stories she tells about the Franco-American community, we see both the joys and the hardships of this culture that has been shaped by experiences in Québec and the United States. Though it has evolved in many ways, Franco-American culture still thrives in New England and Beaupré’s La Souillonne offers 21st century Franco-Americans, as well as those interested in American ethnic histories or Francophone Studies, an opportunity to explore Franco-American identity, history, traditions, culture and language. The monologue has recently been translated into English by the author, available under the title La Souillonne: Dramatic Monologue (Coral Springs, FL : Llumina Press, 2011) and is followed by a sequel in French, La Souillonne, Deusse (Coral Springs, FL : Llumina Press, 2011).
Elizabeth A.
Blood
Salem State University (MA)