(2009). Montréal: Les Editions du Boréal.2008.226 PP.
Peter Wuteh Vakunta, Reviewer
Nadine Bismuth’s latest publication titled Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe? (Are You Married to a Psychopath?) is a compendium of short stories. Tongue in cheek, she laments the fate of women trapped in the web of male philanderers who prey on the gullibility of female partners: “Pourquoi pensez-vous qu’André était seul quand on l’a rencontré? Exactement: c’est un phobique (de l’engagement), un narcissique, un névrotique, un alcoolique ou un mélancolique, bref, c’est un cas pathologique qui requiert des soins thérapeutiques…” (15). To paraphrase Bismuth, tormentors of women are narcissistic, perverted alcoholics in the throes of pathological melancholia that requires therapeutic care. These disparaging remarks speak volumes about Bismuth’s disapprobation of the antisocial ill-conduct of male predators in her society. In an attempt to express her utter contempt for this caliber of men, Bismuth resorts to the use of slangs: “les hommes sont des couillons” (79).
The term “couillon” is a pejorative word that describes womanizers as simpletons or idiots. In the same breath, Bismuth chides women for their apparent inanity and complacency as this example illustrates: “Bénédicte avait réussi seulement à remener chez elle un avocat répondant au nom de Jean-Philippe qui l’avait fait l’amour en l’appellant Valérie.” (80) Bismuth’s intent may not be humor, but the reader cannot help having a good laugh at this ludicrous scene where a man in orgasm mistakes a newfound lover for an ex-girlfriend.
Humor is a powerful ingredient that cements Bismuth narrative as this other example shows: “Je préfère, affirmait Rosalie, un gars qui m’abandonne sur le coin d’une rue à un gars qui est incapable de contrôler ses intestins ou de se souvenir de mon nom dans le lit!” (80) Or, this utterly ludicrous one: “Elle a fait la même chose dans l’ascenseur cinq minutes plus tôt, quand elle a aperçu la photo d’une femme au dos nu couchée sur le ventre, une serviette sur ses fesses bombées, un air d’extase peint sur son visage…”(105)Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe depicts ordinary women leading ordinary lives but the thing that strikes the reader the most in Bismuth’s stories is the extent to which women are prepared to debase themselves in a bid to possess men capable of satisfying their libido: “J’aime mieux n’importe quoi que végéter toute seule chez moi un samedi soir!”(80) In other words, anything in male pants is good enough.
The distinctive characteristic of Bismuth’s narrative style is her constant recourse to code-switching as a narrative technique. Sexual innuendos inhabit her text: “Il dit que je ne comprends pas parce que nous, les filles, dès qu’on couche avec un gars, notre cerveau fait pouf et on ne peut pas faire autrement que de se mettre à rêver, il pretend que notre libido est un ‘une machine à fabuler…’” (162)
Purposeful linguistic miscegenation serves as an effective tool for the depiction of the specificities of the bilingual/bicultural context in which the stories sprouted. Regrettably, linguistic hybridity requires readers of Bismuth’s short stories to be both bilingual and bicultural in order to fully comprehend the import of the intended message. To choose an example from Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe, why write: “A cet instant, Rosalie, qui était en train de faire glisser sur ses lèvres l’embout de son nouveau gloss, faillit en avaler le tube: ‘Shit de marde!’, glapit-elle” (84) when it is obvious that words such as “gloss” and “shit de marde” may constitute stumbling blocks to the monolingual reader? A characteristic trait of this text is the presence of Canadian Franglais in the speech of characters.
By mixing English with French expressions, Bismuth succeeds in making a French language text sound like an English language text as this example shows: “Fuck you, il sait pas boire! (82) Language mixing is intended to make Bismuth’s narrative style respond more realistically to the prevailing mentality and worldview of her characters: « Federer, il est kamput comme champion! No way, il est sexy en plus.»(91) Bismuth pontificates about sensual love in the following maxims: «Je me plais à me répéter que passe le cap des douze ou mettons quatorze semaines, une relation, c’est comme un fœtus: les probabilités qu’elle avorte s’attenuent. Cette idée est farfelue et je ne saurais dire d’où elle m’est venue.»(140)
The linguistic experimentation that takes place in Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe places a huge burden of interpretation on the monolingual reader. Expressions like “kaput”, “now way” and “sexy” are foreign to French readers of Bismuth’s text. Her language usage challenges the canons of French literary discourse. It could be perceived as the author’s attempt at expressing linguistic differentiation. She takes the liberty of transgressing French grammatical rules for the purpose of expressing self-identity and Otherness.
On every page of her book, Metropolitan and domesticated French seem to jostle for space. In her narration of the tales of jilted lovers, Bismuth constantly peppers her work with vulgar expressions as this sentence indicates: “Oui, voilà, tout s’éclaire: Louis a canalisé son anxiété dans son pénis.”(146- 147) Recourse to figurative language serves as a powerful communicative tool in this context: “Il est hors question que je continue à jouer le second violon! tempête-elle. La prochaine fois qu’il revient à la charge, il va voir comment je m’appelle!”(149) The expression “jouer le second violon” could be translated as “play second fiddle.” In a similar vein, Bismuth resorts to similes in an attempt to tailor language to suit discursive intent: “Le visage de Louis se chiffonne comme si on venait de mettre un fruit pourri sous son nez.”(152) Bismuth is adept at word-smiting.
She uses proverbs for the purpose of communicative expediency as this example shows: “Suis-je l’artisane de mon propre malheur?”(155). Or this particularly meaningful one: “…Raphaël disait avoir le sentiment profond que l’instant était le seul baromètre du bonheur humain.” (185). Idiomatic expressions like this one are skillfully used throughout the narrative as this example clearly shows: “… quel est le problème avec les garçons de nos jours? Ses étudiants sont pareils à l’université: ils veulent le beurre et l’argent du beurre.” (157)
More often than not, Bismuth employs metaphoric expressions to convey deep thought: “Mais qu’aurait pensé mon petit-fils Matisse, qui était déjà découragé parce que sa mamie n’attrapait que des sauterelles baveuses dans les mailles de son filet au lieu de beaux papillons.” (178) The expression “sauterelles baveuses” is a satirical reference to unreliable love partners as opposed to “beaux papillons”, who are faithful lovers.
Another noteworthy feature of Bismuth style in Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe is the intralingual translation process that enables her to transpose orality into the written word as the following example illustrates: “ Un grand gaillard et une fille, tous les deux vêtus de chandails du Tricolore, leurs visages barbouillés de rouge et de blanc, hurlaient : ‘Nan-nan-nan-nan-wé-hé-hé good bye!’”(223) Oralization is part and parcel of the oral tradition that constitutes the matrix in which Bismuth crafts her short stories as this sentence makes clear: “Bénédicte éclata de son rire nasal de cochon, rrhoinrrg! rrhoinrrg!”(89) Sometimes she achieves oralization by means of parallelisms: “J’en reviens pas! avait crié Rosalie en donnant un dernier coup de pied sur le gobelet en styromousse. Pas, pas, pas!” (88) Repetition of the word “pas” produces a sonic effect in the ear of the reader as seen in the following sentence: “Un gros camion est passé. Quand il m’a vue, il a fait tut! tut!” (131.
In a nutshell, Etes-vous mariée à un psychopathe is a well-written work of fiction distinctive in its linguistic deviance. Bismuth distinguishes herself from mainstream Francophone writers by having resource to the linguistic experimentation that renders may consider to be a novelty. Her creative genius and stylistic virtuosity certainly deserve to be made accessible to Anglophone readership through the medium of translingual translation.© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2009. All Rights Reserved
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